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Principles of Macroeconomics-6th

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THE REAL ECONOMY IN THE LONG RUN
12 Production and Growth
13 Saving, Investment, and the Financial System
14 The Basic Tools of Finance
These chapters describe the forces that in the long run determine
key real variables, including growth in GDP, saving, investment,
real interest rates, and unemployment.
15 Unemployment
MONEY AND PRICES IN THE LONG RUN
16 The Monetary System
17 Money Growth and Inflation
The monetary system is crucial in determining the long-run
behavior of the price level, the inflation rate, and other
nominal variables.
THE MACROECONOMICS OF OPEN ECONOMIES
18 Open-Economy Macroeconomics:
Basic Concepts
A nation’s economic interactions with other nations are described
by its trade balance, net foreign investment, and exchange rate.
19 A Macroeconomic Theory of the
Open Economy
A long-run model of the open economy explains the determinants
of the trade balance, the real exchange rate, and other real
variables.
SHORT-RUN ECONOMIC FLUCTUATIONS
20 Aggregate Demand and Aggregate Supply
21 The Influence of Monetary and Fiscal Policy
on Aggregate Demand
22 The Short-Run Trade-off
between Inflation and Unemployment
The model of aggregate demand and aggregate supply explains
short-run economic fluctuations, the short-run effects of monetary
and fiscal policy, and the short-run linkage between real and
nominal variables.
FINAL THOUGHTS
23 Six Debates over Macroeconomic Policy
A capstone chapter presents both sides of six major debates
over economic policy.
Principles of Macroeconomics, 6E
N. Gregory Mankiw
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Printed in the United States of America
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 14 13 12 11
Principles of
Macroeconomics
Sixth Edition
N. Gregory Mankiw
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
This page intentionally left blank
To Catherine, Nicholas, and Peter,
my other contributions to the next generation
about the
author
N. Gregory Mankiw is professor of economics
at Harvard University. As a student, he studied
economics at Princeton University and MIT. As
a teacher, he has taught macroeconomics, microeconomics, statistics, and principles of economics.
He even spent one summer long ago as a sailing
instructor on Long Beach Island.
Professor Mankiw is a prolific writer and a regular participant in academic and policy debates. His
work has been published in scholarly journals, such
as the American Economic Review, Journal of Political
Economy, and Quarterly Journal of Economics, and in
more popular forums, such as The New York Times
and The Wall Street Journal. He is also author of
the best-selling intermediate-level textbook Macroeconomics (Worth Publishers).
In addition to his teaching, research, and writing, Professor Mankiw has been a
research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research, an adviser to the
Congressional Budget Office and the Federal Reserve Banks of Boston and New
York, and a member of the ETS test development committee for the Advanced
Placement exam in economics. From 2003 to 2005, he served as chairman of the
President’s Council of Economic Advisers.
Professor Mankiw lives in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with his wife, Deborah,
three children, Catherine, Nicholas, and Peter, and their border terrier, Tobin.
vi
brief
contents
t
Part
I Introduction
1
Part
1 Ten Principles of Economics 3
2 Thinking Like an Economist 21
3 Interdependence and the Gains from Trade 49
Part
II How Markets Work
Part
63
III Markets and Welfare
Part
IV The Data of Macroeconomics
12
13
14
15
373
VIII Short-Run Economic Fluctuations
421
V The Real Economy in the Long Run
Aggregate Demand 461
22 The Short-Run Trade-off between Inflation and
Unemployment 489
Part
193
IX Final Thoughts
513
23 Six Debates over Macroeconomic Policy 515
10 Measuring a Nation’s Income 195
11 Measuring the Cost of Living 217
Part
VII The Macroeconomics of Open Economies
20 Aggregate Demand and Aggregate Supply 423
21 The Influence of Monetary and Fiscal Policy on
133
7 Consumers, Producers, and the Efficiency of Markets 135
8 Application: The Costs of Taxation 155
9 Application: International Trade 171
Part
321
18 Open-Economy Macroeconomics: Basic Concepts 375
19 A Macroeconomic Theory of the Open Economy 399
4 The Market Forces of Supply and Demand 65
5 Elasticity and Its Application 89
6 Supply, Demand, and Government Policies 111
Part
VI Money and Prices in the Long Run
16 The Monetary System 323
17 Money Growth and Inflation 347
233
Production and Growth 235
Saving, Investment, and the Financial System 259
The Basic Tools of Finance 281
Unemployment 297
vii
preface
ttoo the
the student
s
E
conomics is a study of mankind in the ordinary business of life.” So
wrote Alfred Marshall, the great 19th-century economist, in his textbook,
Principles of Economics. Although we have learned much about the economy
since Marshall’s time, this definition of economics is as true today as it
was in 1890, when the first edition of his text was published.
Why should you, as a student at the beginning of the 21st century, embark on
the study of economics? There are three reasons.
The first reason to study economics is that it will help you understand the
world in which you live. There are many questions about the economy that might
spark your curiosity. Why are apartments so hard to find in New York City? Why
do airlines charge less for a round-trip ticket if the traveler stays over a Saturday
night? Why is Johnny Depp paid so much to star in movies? Why are living standards so meager in many African countries? Why do some countries have high
rates of inflation while others have stable prices? Why are jobs easy to find in
some years and hard to find in others? These are just a few of the questions that a
course in economics will help you answer.
The second reason to study economics is that it will make you a more astute
participant in the economy. As you go about your life, you make many economic
decisions. While you are a student, you decide how many years to stay in school.
Once you take a job, you decide how much of your income to spend, how much
to save, and how to invest your savings. Someday you may find yourself running
a small business or a large corporation, and you will decide what prices to charge
for your products. The insights developed in the coming chapters will give you
a new perspective on how best to make these decisions. Studying economics will
not by itself make you rich, but it will give you some tools that may help in that
endeavor.
The third reason to study economics is that it will give you a better understanding of both the potential and the limits of economic policy. Economic questions
are always on the minds of policymakers in mayors’ offices, governors’ mansions,
and the White House. What are the burdens associated with alternative forms of
taxation? What are the effects of free trade with other countries? What is the best
way to protect the environment? How does a government budget deficit affect
the economy? As a voter, you help choose the policies that guide the allocation of
society’s resources. An understanding of economics will help you carry out that
responsibility. And who knows: Perhaps someday you will end up as one of those
policymakers yourself.
Thus, the principles of economics can be applied in many of life’s situations.
Whether the future finds you reading the newspaper, running a business, or sitting in the Oval Office, you will be glad that you studied economics.
“
N. Gregory Mankiw
December 2010
viii
Experience
Mankiw
The Art of Instruction, The Power of Engagement,
The Spark of Discovery
/ iÊ*œÜiÀʜv
Engagement
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ix
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will understand all of the material in that chapter of Mankiw.
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acknowledgments
I
n writing this book, I benefited from the input of many talented people. Indeed, the
list of people who have contributed to this project is so long, and their contributions
so valuable, that it seems an injustice that only a single name appears on the cover.
Let me begin with my colleagues in the economics profession. The six editions
of this text and its supplemental materials have benefited enormously from their
input. In reviews and surveys, they have offered suggestions, identified challenges, and shared ideas from their own classroom experience. I am indebted to them
for the perspectives they have brought to the text. Unfortunately, the list has become too long to thank those who contributed to previous editions, even though
students reading the current edition are still benefiting from their insights.
Most important in this process have been Ron Cronovich (Carthage College)
and David Hakes (University of Northern Iowa). Ron and David, both dedicated
teachers, have served as reliable sounding boards for ideas and hardworking partners with me in putting together the superb package of supplements.
For this new edition, the following diary reviewers recorded their day-to-day
experience over the course of a semester, offering detailed suggestions about how
to improve the text.
Mark Abajian, San Diego Mesa College
Jennifer Bailly, Long Beach City College
J. Ulyses Balderas, Sam Houston State
University
Antonio Bos, Tusculum College
Greg Brock, Georgia Southern
University
Donna Bueckman, University of
Tennessee Knoxville
Rita Callahan, Keiser University
Tina Collins, San Joaquin Valley College
Bob Holland, Purdue University
Tom Holmes, University of Minnesota
Simran Kahai, John Carroll University
Miles Kimball, University of Michigan
Jason C. Rudbeck, University of Georgia
Kent Zirlott, University of Alabama
Tuscaloosa
The following reviewers of the fifth edition provided suggestions for refining
the content, organization, and approach in the sixth.
Mark Abajian, San Diego Mesa College
Hamid Bastin, Shippensburg University
Laura Jean Bhadra, Northern Virginia
Community College
Benjamin Blair, Mississippi State
University
Lane Boyte, Troy University
Greg Brock, Georgia Southern University
Andrew Cassey, Washington State
University
Joni Charles, Texas State University San Marcos
Daren Conrad, Bowie State University
Diane de Freitas, Fresno City College
Veronika Dolar, Cleveland State
University
Justin Dubas, Texas Lutheran
University
Robert L Holland, Purdue University
Andres Jauregui, Columbus State
University
Miles Kimball, University of Michigan
Andrew Kohen, James Madison
University
xi
xii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Daniel Lee, Shippensburg University
David Lindauer, Wellesley College
Joshua Long, Ivy Tech Community
College
James Makokha, Collin College
Jim McAndrew, Luzerne County
Community College
William Mertens, University of Colorado
Cindy Munson, Western Technical
College
David Mushinski, Colorado State University
Fola Odebunmi, Cypress College
Jeff Rubin, Rutgers University, New
Brunswick
Lynda Rush, California State
Polytechnic University Pomona
Naveen Sarna, Northern Virginia
Community College
Jesse Schwartz, Kennesaw State
University
Mark Showalter, Brigham Young
University
Michael Tasto, Southern New
Hampshire University
I received detailed feedback on specific elements in the text, including all end-ofchapter problems and applications, from the following instructors.
Mark Abajian, San Diego Mesa College
Afolabi Adebayo, University of New
Hampshire
Mehdi Afiat, College of Southern
Nevada
Douglas Agbetsiafa, Indiana University
South Bend
Richard Agnello, University of
Delaware
Henry Akian, Gibbs College
Constantine Alexandrakis, Hofstra
University
Michelle Amaral, University of the
Pacific
Shahina Amin, University of Northern
Iowa
Larry Angel, South Seattle Community
College
Kathleen Arano, Fort Hays State
University
J. J. Arias, Georgia College & State
University
Nestor Azcona, Babson College
Steve Balassi, St. Mary’s College/Napa
Valley College
Juventino Ulyses Balderas, Sam
Houston State University
Tannista Banerjee, Purdue University
Jason Barr, Rutgers University, Newark
Alan Barreca, Tulane University
Hamid Bastin, Shippensburg University
Tammy Batson, Northern Illinois
University / Rock Valley College
Carl Bauer, Oakton Community College
Klaus Becker, Texas Tech University
Robert Beekman, University of Tampa
Christian Beer, Cape Fear Community
College
Gary Bennett, State University of New
York Fredonia
Bettina Berch, Borough of Manhattan
Community College
Thomas M. Beveridge, Durham
Technical Community College
Abhijeet Bhattacharya, Illinois Valley
Community College
Prasad Bidarkota, Florida International
University
Jekab Bikis, Dallas Baptist University
Michael Bognanno, Temple University
Cecil Bohanon, Ball State University
Natalia Boliari, Manhattan College
Melanie Boyte, Troy University
Charles Braymen, Kansas State
William Brennan, Minnesota State
University at Mankato
Greg Brock, Georgia Southern
University
Ken Brown, University of Northern
Iowa
Laura Bucila, Texas Christian
University
Stan Buck, Huntington University
Donna Bueckman, University of
Tennessee Knoxville
Joe Bunting, St. Andrews Presbyterian
College
Rita Callahan, Keiser University
Michael G. Carew, Baruch College
John Carter, Modesto Junior College
Kalyan Chakraborty, Emporia State
University
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Henry Check, Penn State University
Xudong Chen, Baldwin-Wallace College
Clifton M. Chow, Mass Bay
Community College
Tina Collins, San Joaquin Valley College
Valerie Collins, Sheridan College
Sarah Cosgrove, University of
Massachusetts Dartmouth
Dana Costea, Indiana University South
Bend
Maria DaCosta, University of Wisconsin
Eau Claire
Mian Dai, Drexel University
Joel Dalafave, Bucks County
Community College
Maylene Damoense, Monash
University South Africa
Lorie Darche, Southwest Florida College
Diane de Freitas, Fresno City College
Ejigou Demissie, University of
Maryland Eastern Shore
Richard DePolt, Guilford Technical
Community College
Aaron Dighton, University of
Minnesota
Veronika Dolar, Cleveland State
University
Fisher Donna, Georgia Southern
University
Harold Elder, University of Alabama
Jamie Emerson, Salisbury University
Elena Ermolenko, Oakton Community
College
Pat Euzent, University of Central Florida
Yan Feng, Hunter College, Queens
College, CUNY
Donna K. Fisher, Georgia Southern
University
Paul Fisher, Henry Ford Community
College
Fred Foldvary, Santa Clara University
Nikki Follis, Chadron State College
Kent Ford, State University of New York /
Onondaga Community College
Ryan Ford, Pasadena City College
Timothy Ford, California State
University Sacramento
Johanna Francis, Fordham University
Robert Francis, Shoreline Community
College
Mark Frascatore, Clarkson University
David Furst, University of South Florida
Monica Galizzi, University of
Massachusetts Lowell
Jean-Philippe Gervais, North Carolina
State University
Dipak Ghosh, Emporia State University
Bill Goffe, State University of New York
Oswego
Ryan Gorka, University of Nebraska
Lincoln
Marshall Gramm, Rhodes College
Elias C. Grivoyannis, Yeshiva University
Eleanor Gubins, Rosemont College
Darrin Gulla, University of Kentucky
Karen Gulliver, Argosy University
Ranganai Gwati, University of
Washington Seattle
Mike Haupert, University of Wisconsin
La Crosse
L Jay Helms, University of California
Davis
Dr. David Hennessy, University of
Dubuque
Curry Hilton, Guilford Technical
Community College
George Hoffer, Virginia Commonwealth
University
Mark Holmes, University of Waikato
Carl Hooker, Community College of
Vermont
Daniel Horton, Cleveland State University
Scott Houser, Colorado School of the
Mines
Fanchang Huang, Washington
University in St Louis
Gregory Hunter, California State
Polytechnic University Pomona
Christopher Hyer, University of New
Mexico
Leke Ijiyode, St. Mary’s University of
Minnesota
Chris Inama, Golden Gate University
Sarbaum Jeff, University of North
Carolina Greensboro
Chad Jennings, Tennessee Temple
University
Philipp Jonas, Kalamazoo Valley
Community College
Robert Jones, Rensselaer Polytechnic
Institute
Prathibha Joshi, Gordon College
James Jozefowicz, Indiana University of
Pennsylvania
xiii
xiv
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Mahbubul Kabir, Lyon College
Simran Kahai, John Carroll University
David Kalist, Shippensburg University
Camilla Kazimi, St. Mary’s College
Chris Kelton, Naval Postgraduate School
Brian Kench, University of Tampa
Hyeongwoo Kim, Auburn University
Miles Kimball, University of Michigan
Alfreda L. King, Lawson State
Community College
Elizabeth Knowles, –Univeristy of
Wisconsin La Crosse
Fred Kolb, University of Wisconsin Eau
Claire
Risa Kumazawa, Duquesne University
Sumner La Croix, University of Hawaii
Christopher Laincz, Drexel University
Ghislaine Lang, San Jose State
University
Carolyn Langston, South Arkansas
Community College
Richard Le, Cosumnes River College
Daniel Lee, Shippensburg University
Tom Lehman, Indiana Wesleyan
University
Megan Leonard, Hendrix College
Larry Lichtenstein, Canisius College
Tad Lincoln, Middlesex Community
College
David Linthicum, Cecil College North
East
Sam Liu, West Valley College
Melody Lo, University of Texas at San
Antonio
Volodymyr Logovskyy, Georgia
Institute of Technology
Min Lu, Robert Morris University
Gennady Lyakir, Champlain College
Bruce Madariaga, Montgomery
Community College
Brinda Mahalingam, University of
California Riverside
Rubana Mahjabeen, Truman State
University
Bahman Maneshni, Paradise Valley
Community College
Denton Marks, University of WisconsinWhitewater
Timothy Mathews, Kennesaw State
University
Frances Mc Donald, Northern Virginia
Community College
Edward McGrath, Holyoke Community
College
Shirley Ann Merchant, George
Washington University
William Mertens, University of
Colorado
Mitch Mitchell, Bladen Community
College
Mitch Mitchell, North Carolina
Wesleyan
Mike Mogavero, University of Notre
Dame
Prof Ramesh Mohan, Bryant University
Daniel Monchuk, University of
Southern Mississippi
Vasudeva Murthy, Creighton
University
David Mushinsk, Colorado State
University
Paula Nas, University of Michigan Flint
Russ Neal, Collin County Community
College
Megumi Nishimura, University of
Colorado
Peter Olson, Indiana University
Esen Onur, California State University
Sacramento
Stephen Onyeiwu, Allegheny College
Margaret Oppenheimer, DePaul
University
Glenda Orosco, Oklahoma State
University Institute of Technology
David Ortmeyer, Bentley University
Thomas Owen, College of the Redwoods
Jan Palmer, Ohio University
Amar Parai, State University of New
York at Fredonia
Nitin Paranjpe, Wayne State and
Oakland University
Carl Parker, Fort Hays State University
Michael Petrack, Oakland Community
College
Gyan Pradhan, Eastern Kentucky
University
Michael Pries, University of Notre
Dame
Joe Quinn, Boston College
Mahesh Ramachandran, Clark
University
Ratha Ramoo, Diablo Valley College
Surekha Rao, Indiana University
Northwest
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Ryan Ratcliff, University of San Diego
Scott Redenius, Brandeis University
Susan Reilly, Florida State College at
Jacksonville
Imke Reimers, University of Minnesota
Christopher Richardson, Merrillville
High School
Art Riegal, State University of New
York Sullivan
Richard Risinit, Middlesex Community
College
Michael Rogers, Albany State
University
Paul Roscelli, Canada College
Larry Ross, University of Alaska Anchorage
Jeff Rubin, Rutgers University
Allen Sanderson, University of Chicago
Jeff Sarbaum, University of North
Carolina Greensboro
Dennis Shannon, Southwestern Illinois
College
Xuguang Sheng, State University of
New York at Fredonia
Mark Showalter, Brigham Young
University
Johnny Shull, Central Carolina
Community College
Suann Shumaker, Las Positas
Community College
Jonathan Silberman, Oakland University
Steven Skinner, Western Connecticut
State University
Catherine Skura, Sandhills Community
College
Gary Smith, D’Youville College
Warren Smith, Keiser University
William Snyder, Peru State College
Ken Somppi, Southern Union State
Community College
Dale Steinreich, Drury University
Liliana Stern, Auburn University
Derek Stimel, Menlo College
Carolyn Fabian Stumph, Indiana
University Purdue University Fort
Wayne
Bryce Sutton, University of Alabama at
Birmingham
Justin Tapp, Southwest Baptist
University
Dosse Toulaboe, Fort Hays State
University
Richard Trainer, State University of
New York at Nassau
Ngoc Bich Tran, San Jacinto College
Sandra Trejos, Clarion University of
Pennsylvania
Julie Trivitt, Arkansas Tech University
Arja Turunen-Red, University of New
Orleans
Diane Tyndall, Craven Community
College
Kay Unger, University of Montana
Lee J. Van Scyoc, University of
Wisconsin Oshkosh
Lisa Verissimo-Bates, Foothill College
Priti Verma, Texas A&M University,
Kingsville
Patrick Walsh, St. Michael’s College
Jing Wang, Northeastern University
Donald Waters, Brayant and Stratton
College, Virginia Beach, Virgina
Campus
Patrick Welle, Bemidji State University
Elizabeth Wheaton, Southern Methodist
University
Luther White, Central Carolina
Community College
Oxana Wieland, University of
Minnesota Crookston
John Winters, Auburn University at
Montgomery
Suzanne Wisniewski, University of
St. Thomas
Patricia Wiswell, Columbia-Greene
Community College
Mark Witte, College of Charleston
Louis A. Woods, University of North
Florida
Guy Yamashiro, California State
University Long Beach
Benhua Yang, Stetson University
Leslie Young, Kilian Community College
Karen Zempel, Bryant and Stratton
College
The team of editors who worked on this book improved it tremendously. Jane
Tufts, developmental editor, provided truly spectacular editing—as she always
does. Mike Worls, economics executive editor, did a splendid job of overseeing the
xv
xvi
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
many people involved in such a large project. Jennifer Thomas (supervising developmental editor) and Katie Yanos (supervising developmental editor) were crucial
in assembling an extensive and thoughtful group of reviewers to give me feedback on the previous edition, while putting together an excellent team to revise the
supplements. Colleen Farmer, senior content project manager, and Malvine Litten,
project manager, had the patience and dedication necessary to turn my manuscript into this book. Michelle Kunkler, senior art director, gave this book its clean,
friendly look. Larry Moore, the illustrator, helped make the book more visually
appealing and the economics in it less abstract. Sheryl Nelson, copyeditor, refined
my prose, and Cindy Kerr, indexer, prepared a careful and thorough index. John
Carey, senior marketing manager, worked long hours getting the word out to potential users of this book. The rest of the Cengage team was also consistently professional, enthusiastic, and dedicated: Allyn Bissmeyer, Darrell Frye, Sarah Greber,
Betty Jung, Deepak Kumar, Kim Kusnerak, Sharon Morgan, Suellen Ruttkay, and
Joe Sabatino.
I am grateful also to Stacy Carlson and Daniel Norris, two star Harvard undergraduates, who helped me refine the manuscript and check the page proofs for
this edition. Josh Bookin, a former Advanced Placement economics teacher and
recently an extraordinary section leader for Harvard’s Ec 10, gave invaluable
advice on some of the new material in this edition.
As always, I must thank my “in-house” editor Deborah Mankiw. As the first
reader of most things I write, she continued to offer just the right mix of criticism
and encouragement.
Finally, I would like to mention my three children Catherine, Nicholas, and
Peter. Their contribution to this book was putting up with a father spending too
many hours in his study. The four of us have much in common—not least of
which is our love of ice cream (which becomes apparent in Chapter 4). Maybe
sometime soon one of them will pick up my passion for economics as well.
N. Gregory Mankiw
December 2010
table of
contents
Preface: To the Student viii
FYI: Adam Smith and the Invisible Hand 12
How the Economy as a Whole Works 13
Principle 8: A Country’s Standard of Living Depends on Its
Ability to Produce Goods and Services 13
In The News: Why You Should Study Economics 14
Principle 9: Prices Rise When the Government Prints Too
Much Money 15
Principle 10: Society Faces a Short-Run Trade-off between
Inflation and Unemployment 16
FYI: How to Read This Book 17
Acknowledgments xi
Conclusion 17
Chapter 2
Thinking Like an Economist 21
I Introduction
PART
1
Chapter 1
Ten Principles of Economics 3
How People Make Decisions 4
Principle 1: People Face Trade-offs 4
Principle 2: The Cost of Something Is What You Give Up
to Get It 5
Principle 3: Rational People Think at the Margin 6
Principle 4: People Respond to Incentives 7
Case Study: The Incentive Effects of Gasoline Prices 8
In The News: Incentive Pay 9
How People Interact 10
Principle 5: Trade Can Make Everyone Better Off 10
Principle 6: Markets Are Usually a Good Way to Organize
Economic Activity 10
Principle 7: Governments Can Sometimes Improve Market
Outcomes 11
The Economist as Scientist 22
The Scientific Method: Observation, Theory, and More
Observation 22
The Role of Assumptions 23
Economic Models 24
Our First Model: The Circular-Flow Diagram 24
Our Second Model: The Production Possibilities Frontier 26
Microeconomics and Macroeconomics 29
The Economist as Policy Adviser 29
FYI: Who Studies Economics? 30
Positive versus Normative Analysis 30
Economists in Washington 31
In The News: The Economics of President Obama 32
Why Economists’ Advice Is Not Always Followed 32
Why Economists Disagree 34
Differences in Scientific Judgments 34
Differences in Values 34
Perception versus Reality 35
Let’s Get Going 35
In The News: Environmental Economics 37
APPENDIX Graphing: A Brief Review 40
Graphs of a Single Variable 40
Graphs of Two Variables: The Coordinate System 41
Curves in the Coordinate System 42
Slope 44
Cause and Effect 46
xvii
xviii
CONTENTS
Chapter 3
Interdependence and the Gains from
Trade 49
A Parable for the Modern Economy 50
Production Possibilities 50
Specialization and Trade 52
Comparative Advantage: The Driving Force of
Specialization 54
Absolute Advantage 54
Opportunity Cost and Comparative Advantage 54
Comparative Advantage and Trade 55
The Price of the Trade 56
FYI: The Legacy of Adam Smith and David Ricardo 57
Applications of Comparative Advantage 57
Should Tom Brady Mow His Own Lawn? 57
Should the United States Trade with Other Countries? 58
In The News: The Changing Face of International Trade 59
Conclusion 59
Demand 67
The Demand Curve: The Relationship between Price and
Quantity Demanded 67
Market Demand versus Individual Demand 68
Shifts in the Demand Curve 69
Case Study: Two Ways to Reduce the Quantity of Smoking
Demanded 71
Supply 73
The Supply Curve: The Relationship between Price and
Quantity Supplied 73
Market Supply versus Individual Supply 73
Shifts in the Supply Curve 74
Supply and Demand Together 77
Equilibrium 77
Three Steps to Analyzing Changes in Equilibrium 79
In The News: Price Increases after Disasters 82
Conclusion: How Prices Allocate Resources 84
Chapter 5
Elasticity and Its Application 89
The Elasticity of Demand 90
The Price Elasticity of Demand and Its Determinants 90
Computing the Price Elasticity of Demand 91
The Midpoint Method: A Better Way to Calculate
Percentage Changes and Elasticities 91
The Variety of Demand Curves 92
FYI: A Few Elasticities from the Real World 94
Total Revenue and the Price Elasticity of Demand 94
Elasticity and Total Revenue along a Linear Demand Curve 96
Other Demand Elasticities 97
The Elasticity of Supply 98
The Price Elasticity of Supply and Its Determinants 98
Computing the Price Elasticity of Supply 98
The Variety of Supply Curves 99
II How
Markets
Work
PART
63
Chapter 4
The Market Forces of Supply
and Demand 65
Markets and Competition 66
What Is a Market? 66
What Is Competition? 66
Three Applications of Supply, Demand, and Elasticity 101
Can Good News for Farming Be Bad News for Farmers? 101
Why Did OPEC Fail to Keep the Price of Oil High? 103
Does Drug Interdiction Increase or Decrease Drug-Related
Crime? 105
Conclusion 106
Chapter 6
Supply, Demand, and Government
Policies 111
Controls on Prices 112
How Price Ceilings Affect Market Outcomes 112
Case Study: Lines at the Gas Pump 114
Case Study: Rent Control in the Short Run and the Long
Run 115
CONTENTS
How Price Floors Affect Market Outcomes 116
Case Study: The Minimum Wage 117
Evaluating Price Controls 119
In The News: Should Unpaid Internships Be Allowed? 120
Taxes 121
How Taxes on Sellers Affect Market Outcomes 121
How Taxes on Buyers Affect Market Outcomes 123
Case Study: Can Congress Distribute the Burden of a
Payroll Tax? 124
Elasticity and Tax Incidence 125
Case Study: Who Pays the Luxury Tax? 127
Conclusion 128
The Benevolent Social Planner 145
Evaluating the Market Equilibrium 146
In The News: Ticket Scalping 148
Case Study: Should There Be a Market in
Organs? 149
Conclusion: Market Efficiency and Market
Failure 150
Chapter 8
Application: The Costs of Taxation 155
The Deadweight Loss of Taxation 156
How a Tax Affects Market Participants 157
Deadweight Losses and the Gains from Trade 159
The Determinants of the Deadweight Loss 160
Case Study: The Deadweight Loss Debate 162
Deadweight Loss and Tax Revenue as Taxes Vary 163
Case Study: The Laffer Curve and Supply-Side
Economics 165
In The News: New Research on Taxation 166
Conclusion 166
Chapter 9
Application: International Trade 171
The Determinants of Trade 172
The Equilibrium without Trade 172
The World Price and Comparative Advantage 173
III Markets
and
Welfare
PART
133
Chapter 7
Consumers, Producers, and the Efficiency
of Markets 135
The Winners and Losers from Trade 174
The Gains and Losses of an Exporting Country 174
The Gains and Losses of an Importing Country 175
The Effects of a Tariff 177
FYI: Import Quotas: Another Way to Restrict
Trade 179
The Lessons for Trade Policy 179
Other Benefits of International Trade 180
In The News: Trade Skirmishes 181
Producer Surplus 141
Cost and the Willingness to Sell 141
Using the Supply Curve to Measure Producer Surplus 142
How a Higher Price Raises Producer Surplus 144
The Arguments for Restricting Trade 182
The Jobs Argument 182
In The News: Should the Winners from Free Trade
Compensate the Losers? 183
The National-Security Argument 184
In The News: Second Thoughts about Free
Trade 184
The Infant-Industry Argument 185
The Unfair-Competition Argument 186
The Protection-as-a-Bargaining-Chip Argument 186
Case Study: Trade Agreements and the World Trade
Organization 186
Market Efficiency 145
Conclusion 187
Consumer Surplus 136
Willingness to Pay 136
Using the Demand Curve to Measure Consumer Surplus 137
How a Lower Price Raises Consumer Surplus 138
What Does Consumer Surplus Measure? 140
xix
xx
CONTENTS
Chapter 11
Measuring the Cost of Living 217
The Consumer Price Index 218
How the Consumer Price Index Is Calculated 218
FYI: What Is in the CPI’s Basket? 220
Problems in Measuring the Cost of Living 221
In The News: Shopping for the CPI 222
The GDP Deflator versus the Consumer Price Index 224
Correcting Economic Variables for the Effects of Inflation 225
Dollar Figures from Different Times 226
Indexation 226
FYI: Mr. Index Goes to Hollywood 227
Real and Nominal Interest Rates 227
Case Study: Interest Rates in the U.S. Economy 229
Conclusion 230
IV The
Data
of Macro-
PART
economics
193
Chapter 10
Measuring a Nation’s Income 195
The Economy’s Income and Expenditure 196
The Measurement of Gross Domestic Product 198
“GDP Is the Market Value…” 198
“…of All…” 198
“…Final…” 199
“…Goods and Services…” 199
“…Produced…” 199
“…Within a Country…” 199
“…In a Given Period of Time.” 199
The Components of GDP 200
FYI: Other Measures of Income 201
Consumption 201
Investment 201
Government Purchases 202
Net Exports 202
Case Study: The Components of U.S. GDP 203
Real versus Nominal GDP 203
A Numerical Example 204
The GDP Deflator 205
Case Study: Real GDP over Recent History 206
Is GDP a Good Measure of Economic Well-Being? 207
In The News: The Underground Economy 208
In The News: Beyond Gross Domestic Product 210
Case Study: International Differences in GDP and the
Quality of Life 211
Conclusion 212
V The
Real Economy
in the Long Run
PART
233
Chapter 12
Production and Growth 235
Economic Growth around the World 236
FYI: A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Statistics 238
FYI: Are You Richer Than the Richest American? 240
Productivity: Its Role and Determinants 240
Why Productivity Is So Important 240
How Productivity Is Determined 241
FYI: The Production Function 243
Case Study: Are Natural Resources a Limit to Growth? 243
Economic Growth and Public Policy 244
Saving and Investment 244
CONTENTS
Diminishing Returns and the Catch-Up Effect 245
Investment from Abroad 246
Education 247
Health and Nutrition 248
In The News: Promoting Human Capital 249
Property Rights and Political Stability 250
Free Trade 251
Research and Development 252
Population Growth 252
In The News: One Economist’s Answer 254
Conclusion: The Importance of Long-Run Growth 256
Chapter 13
Saving, Investment, and the
Financial System 259
Financial Institutions in the U.S. Economy 260
Financial Markets 260
Financial Intermediaries 262
FYI: Key Numbers for Stock Watchers 263
Summing Up 264
FYI: Financial Crises 265
Saving and Investment in the National Income Accounts 265
Some Important Identities 266
The Meaning of Saving and Investment 267
Chapter 15
Unemployment 297
Identifying Unemployment 298
How Is Unemployment Measured? 298
Case Study: Labor-Force Participation of Men and Women
in the U.S. Economy 301
Does the Unemployment Rate Measure What We
Want It To? 302
How Long Are the Unemployed without Work? 304
Why Are There Always Some People Unemployed? 304
In The News: The Rise of Long-Term Unemployment 305
FYI: The Jobs Number 306
Job Search 306
Why Some Frictional Unemployment Is Inevitable 307
Public Policy and Job Search 307
Unemployment Insurance 308
In The News: How Much Do the Unemployed Respond to
Incentives? 308
Minimum-Wage Laws 310
FYI: Who Earns the Minimum Wage? 312
Unions and Collective Bargaining 312
The Economics of Unions 313
Are Unions Good or Bad for the Economy? 314
The Market for Loanable Funds 268
Supply and Demand for Loanable Funds 268
Policy 1: Saving Incentives 270
Policy 2: Investment Incentives 272
Policy 3: Government Budget Deficits and Surpluses 272
Case Study: The History of U.S. Government Debt 274
The Theory of Efficiency Wages 314
Worker Health 315
Worker Turnover 315
Worker Quality 315
Worker Effort 316
Case Study: Henry Ford and the Very Generous $5-a-Day
Wage 316
Conclusion 276
Conclusion 317
Chapter 14
The Basic Tools of Finance 281
Present Value: Measuring the Time Value of Money 282
FYI: The Magic of Compounding and the Rule of 70 284
Managing Risk 284
Risk Aversion 284
The Markets for Insurance 285
Diversification of Firm-Specific Risk 286
The Trade-off between Risk and Return 287
Asset Valuation 288
Fundamental Analysis 289
The Efficient Markets Hypothesis 289
In The News: A Cartoonist’s Guide to Stock Picking 290
Case Study: Random Walks and Index Funds 291
In The News: Is the Efficient Markets
Hypothesis Kaput? 292
Market Irrationality 294
Conclusion 294
xxi
xxii
CONTENTS
VI Money
and Prices
in the Long Run
PART
321
Chapter 16
The Monetary System 323
The Meaning of Money 324
The Functions of Money 325
The Kinds of Money 325
In The News: Mackereleconomics 326
Money in the U.S. Economy 327
FYI: Why Credit Cards Aren’t Money 328
Case Study: Where Is All the Currency? 328
Menu Costs 362
Relative-Price Variability and the Misallocation
of Resources 362
Inflation-Induced Tax Distortions 363
Confusion and Inconvenience 364
A Special Cost of Unexpected Inflation: Arbitrary
Redistributions of Wealth 365
Inflation Is Bad, But Deflation May Be Worse 366
Case Study: The Wizard of Oz and the Free-Silver
Debate 366
In The News: Inflationary Threats 368
Conclusion 368
The Federal Reserve System 329
The Fed’s Organization 330
The Federal Open Market Committee 330
Banks and the Money Supply 331
The Simple Case of 100-Percent-Reserve Banking 331
Money Creation with Fractional-Reserve Banking 332
The Money Multiplier 333
Bank Capital, Leverage, and the Financial Crisis
of 2008–2009 335
The Fed’s Tools of Monetary Control 336
How the Fed Influences the Quantity of Reserves 337
How the Fed Influences the Reserve Ratio 338
Problems in Controlling the Money Supply 339
Case Study: Bank Runs and the Money Supply 340
The Federal Funds Rate 340
In The News: Bernanke on the Fed’s Toolbox 342
Conclusion 344
PART
VII The
Macroeconomics of Open
Economies
Chapter 17
Money Growth and Inflation 347
The Classical Theory of Inflation 348
The Level of Prices and the Value of Money 349
Money Supply, Money Demand, and Monetary
Equilibrium 349
The Effects of a Monetary Injection 351
A Brief Look at the Adjustment Process 352
The Classical Dichotomy and Monetary Neutrality 353
Velocity and the Quantity Equation 354
Case Study: Money and Prices during Four
Hyperinflations 356
The Inflation Tax 356
FYI: Hyperinflation in Zimbabwe 358
The Fisher Effect 359
The Costs of Inflation 360
A Fall in Purchasing Power? The Inflation Fallacy 360
Shoeleather Costs 361
373
Chapter 18
Open-Economy Macroeconomics: Basic
Concepts 375
The International Flows of Goods and Capital 376
The Flow of Goods: Exports, Imports, and Net Exports 376
Case Study: The Increasing Openness of the U.S.
Economy 377
In The News: Breaking Up the Chain of Production 378
The Flow of Financial Resources: Net Capital Outflow 380
The Equality of Net Exports and Net Capital Outflow 381
Saving, Investment, and Their Relationship to the International
Flows 382
Summing Up 383
Case Study: Is the U.S. Trade Deficit a National
Problem? 384
CONTENTS xxiii
The Prices for International Transactions: Real and
Nominal Exchange Rates 386
Nominal Exchange Rates 386
FYI: The Euro 387
Real Exchange Rates 388
A First Theory of Exchange-Rate Determination:
Purchasing-Power Parity 389
The Basic Logic of Purchasing-Power Parity 390
Implications of Purchasing-Power Parity 390
Case Study: The Nominal Exchange Rate during a
Hyperinflation 392
Limitations of Purchasing-Power Parity 393
Case Study: The Hamburger Standard 393
Conclusion 394
Chapter 19
A Macroeconomic Theory of the Open
Economy 399
VIII Short-Run
Economic
PART
Fluctuations
421
Chapter 20
Aggregate Demand and Aggregate
Supply 423
Three Key Facts about Economic Fluctuations 424
Fact 1: Economic Fluctuations Are Irregular and
Unpredictable 424
Fact 2: Most Macroeconomic Quantities Fluctuate
Together 426
Fact 3: As Output Falls, Unemployment Rises 426
Supply and Demand for Loanable Funds and for ForeignCurrency Exchange 400
The Market for Loanable Funds 400
The Market for Foreign-Currency Exchange 402
FYI: Purchasing-Power Parity as a Special Case 404
Explaining Short-Run Economic Fluctuations 426
The Assumptions of Classical Economics 426
The Reality of Short-Run Fluctuations 427
In The News: The Social Influences of Economic
Downturns 428
The Model of Aggregate Demand and Aggregate
Supply 428
Equilibrium in the Open Economy 405
Net Capital Outflow: The Link between the Two Markets 405
Simultaneous Equilibrium in Two Markets 406
FYI: Disentangling Supply and Demand 408
The Aggregate-Demand Curve 430
Why the Aggregate-Demand Curve Slopes
Downward 430
Why the Aggregate-Demand Curve Might Shift 433
How Policies and Events Affect an Open Economy 408
Government Budget Deficits 408
Trade Policy 410
Political Instability and Capital Flight 413
Case Study: Capital Flows from China 415
In The News: Alternative Exchange-Rate Regimes 416
The Aggregate-Supply Curve 435
Why the Aggregate-Supply Curve Is Vertical in
the Long Run 435
Why the Long-Run Aggregate-Supply Curve Might
Shift 436
Using Aggregate Demand and Aggregate Supply to Depict
Long-Run Growth and Inflation 438
Why the Aggregate-Supply Curve Slopes Upward in the Short
Run 438
Why the Short-Run Aggregate-Supply Curve Might
Shift 442
Conclusion 416
Two Causes of Economic Fluctuations 444
The Effects of a Shift in Aggregate Demand 444
FYI: Monetary Neutrality Revisited 447
Case Study: Two Big Shifts in Aggregate Demand:
The Great Depression and World War II 448
Case Study: The Recession of 2008–2009 449
In The News: Modern Parallels to the Great
Depression 450
The Effects of a Shift in Aggregate Supply 452
Case Study: Oil and the Economy 454
FYI: The Origins of the Model of Aggregate Demand and
Aggregate Supply 455
Conclusion 456
xxiv
CONTENTS
Chapter 21
The Influence of Monetary and Fiscal
Policy on Aggregate Demand 461
How Monetary Policy Influences Aggregate Demand 462
The Theory of Liquidity Preference 463
The Downward Slope of the Aggregate-Demand Curve 465
FYI: Interest Rates in the Long Run and the Short Run 466
Changes in the Money Supply 468
The Role of Interest-Rate Targets in Fed Policy 469
FYI: The Zero Lower Bound 470
Case Study: Why the Fed Watches the Stock Market (and
Vice Versa) 470
How Fiscal Policy Influences Aggregate Demand 471
Changes in Government Purchases 472
The Multiplier Effect 472
A Formula for the Spending Multiplier 473
Other Applications of the Multiplier Effect 474
The Crowding-Out Effect 475
Changes in Taxes 476
FYI: How Fiscal Policy Might Affect Aggregate Supply 477
Using Policy to Stabilize the Economy 477
The Case for Active Stabilization Policy 477
Case Study: Keynesians in the White House 479
The Case against Active Stabilization Policy 479
In The News: How Large Is the Fiscal Policy Multiplier? 480
Automatic Stabilizers 481
In The News: Offbeat Indicators 483
Conclusion 484
Chapter 22
The Short-Run Trade-off between Inflation
and Unemployment 489
The Phillips Curve 490
Origins of the Phillips Curve 490
Aggregate Demand, Aggregate Supply, and the Phillips Curve 491
Shifts in the Phillips Curve: The Role of Expectations 493
The Long-Run Phillips Curve 493
The Meaning of “Natural” 495
Reconciling Theory and Evidence 496
The Short-Run Phillips Curve 497
The Natural Experiment for the Natural-Rate Hypothesis 498
Shifts in the Phillips Curve: The Role of Supply Shocks 500
The Cost of Reducing Inflation 502
The Sacrifice Ratio 503
Rational Expectations and the Possibility of Costless
Disinflation 504
The Volcker Disinflation 505
The Greenspan Era 506
The Phillips Curve during the Financial Crisis 508
In The News: Do We Need More Inflation? 509
Conclusion 510
IX Final Thoughts
PART
513
Chapter 23
Six Debates over Macroeconomic Policy 515
Should Monetary and Fiscal Policymakers Try to Stabilize the
Economy? 516
Pro: Policymakers Should Try to Stabilize the Economy 516
Con: Policymakers Should Not Try to Stabilize the Economy 516
Should the Government Fight Recessions with Spending
Hikes Rather Than Tax Cuts? 518
Pro: The Government Should Fight Recessions with Spending
Hikes 518
Con: The Government Should Fight Recessions with Tax Cuts 519
Should Monetary Policy Be Made by Rule Rather Than by
Discretion? 520
Pro: Monetary Policy Should Be Made by Rule 521
Con: Monetary Policy Should Not Be Made by Rule 522
FYI: Inflation Targeting 523
Should the Central Bank Aim for Zero Inflation? 523
Pro: The Central Bank Should Aim for Zero Inflation 524
Con: The Central Bank Should Not Aim For Zero Inflation 525
In The News: What Is the Optimal Inflation Rate? 526
Should the Government Balance Its Budget? 527
Pro: The Government Should Balance Its Budget 527
Con: The Government Should Not Balance Its Budget 528
In The News: Dealing with Debt and Deficits 530
Should the Tax Laws Be Reformed to Encourage Saving? 530
Pro: The Tax Laws Should Be Reformed to Encourage Saving 530
Con: The Tax Laws Should Not Be Reformed to Encourage
Saving 532
Conclusion 533
Glossary 537
Index 541
I
PART
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Ten Principles of
Economics
1
T
he word economy comes from the Greek word oikonomos, which means
“one who manages a household.” At first, this origin might seem peculiar. But in fact, households and economies have much in common.
A household faces many decisions. It must decide which members of
the household do which tasks and what each member gets in return: Who cooks
dinner? Who does the laundry? Who gets the extra dessert at dinner? Who gets to
choose what TV show to watch? In short, the household must allocate its scarce
resources among its various members, taking into account each member’s abilities, efforts, and desires.
Like a household, a society faces many decisions. A society must find some
way to decide what jobs will be done and who will do them. It needs some people
to grow food, other people to make clothing, and still others to design computer
software. Once society has allocated people (as well as land, buildings, and
machines) to various jobs, it must also allocate the output of goods and services
3
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4
PART I
INTRODUCTION
scarcity
the limited nature of
society’s resources
economics
the study of how society
manages its scarce
resources
they produce. It must decide who will eat caviar and who will eat potatoes. It
must decide who will drive a Ferrari and who will take the bus.
The management of society’s resources is important because resources are
scarce. Scarcity means that society has limited resources and therefore cannot
produce all the goods and services people wish to have. Just as each member of
a household cannot get everything he or she wants, each individual in a society
cannot attain the highest standard of living to which he or she might aspire.
Economics is the study of how society manages its scarce resources. In most
societies, resources are allocated not by an all-powerful dictator but through the
combined actions of millions of households and firms. Economists therefore study
how people make decisions: how much they work, what they buy, how much they
save, and how they invest their savings. Economists also study how people interact with one another. For instance, they examine how the multitude of buyers and
sellers of a good together determine the price at which the good is sold and the
quantity that is sold. Finally, economists analyze forces and trends that affect the
economy as a whole, including the growth in average income, the fraction of
the population that cannot find work, and the rate at which prices are rising.
The study of economics has many facets, but it is unified by several central
ideas. In this chapter, we look at Ten Principles of Economics. Don’t worry if you
don’t understand them all at first or if you aren’t completely convinced. We will
explore these ideas more fully in later chapters. The ten principles are introduced
here to give you an overview of what economics is all about. Consider this chapter
a “preview of coming attractions.”
How People Make Decisions
There is no mystery to what an economy is. Whether we are talking about the
economy of Los Angeles, the United States, or the whole world, an economy
is just a group of people dealing with one another as they go about their lives.
Because the behavior of an economy reflects the behavior of the individuals who
make up the economy, we begin our study of economics with four principles of
individual decision making.
Principle 1: People Face Trade-offs
You may have heard the old saying, “There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch.”
Grammar aside, there is much truth to this adage. To get one thing that we like,
we usually have to give up another thing that we like. Making decisions requires
trading off one goal against another.
Consider a student who must decide how to allocate her most valuable
resource—her time. She can spend all her time studying economics, spend all of
it studying psychology, or divide it between the two fields. For every hour she
studies one subject, she gives up an hour she could have used studying the other.
And for every hour she spends studying, she gives up an hour that she could have
spent napping, bike riding, watching TV, or working at her part-time job for some
extra spending money.
Or consider parents deciding how to spend their family income. They can buy
food, clothing, or a family vacation. Or they can save some of the family income
for retirement or the children’s college education. When they choose to spend an
extra dollar on one of these goods, they have one less dollar to spend on some
other good.
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CHAPTER 1
When people are grouped into societies, they face different kinds of trade-offs.
One classic trade-off is between “guns and butter.” The more a society spends
on national defense (guns) to protect its shores from foreign aggressors, the less
it can spend on consumer goods (butter) to raise the standard of living at home.
Also important in modern society is the trade-off between a clean environment
and a high level of income. Laws that require firms to reduce pollution raise the
cost of producing goods and services. Because of the higher costs, these firms end
up earning smaller profits, paying lower wages, charging higher prices, or some
combination of these three. Thus, while pollution regulations yield the benefit of
a cleaner environment and the improved health that comes with it, the regulations
come at the cost of reducing the incomes of the regulated firms’ owners, workers,
and customers.
Another trade-off society faces is between efficiency and equality. Efficiency
means that society is getting the maximum benefits from its scarce resources.
Equality means that those benefits are distributed uniformly among society’s
members. In other words, efficiency refers to the size of the economic pie, and
equality refers to how the pie is divided into individual slices.
When government policies are designed, these two goals often conflict. Consider, for instance, policies aimed at equalizing the distribution of economic
well-being. Some of these policies, such as the welfare system or unemployment
insurance, try to help the members of society who are most in need. Others, such
as the individual income tax, ask the financially successful to contribute more than
others to support the government. While achieving greater equality, these policies
reduce efficiency. When the government redistributes income from the rich to the
poor, it reduces the reward for working hard; as a result, people work less and
produce fewer goods and services. In other words, when the government tries to
cut the economic pie into more equal slices, the pie gets smaller.
Recognizing that people face trade-offs does not by itself tell us what decisions
they will or should make. A student should not abandon the study of psychology just because doing so would increase the time available for the study of
economics. Society should not stop protecting the environment just because environmental regulations reduce our material standard of living. The poor should
not be ignored just because helping them distorts work incentives. Nonetheless,
people are likely to make good decisions only if they understand the options they
have available. Our study of economics, therefore, starts by acknowledging life’s
trade-offs.
TEN PRINCIPLES OF ECONOMICS
5
efficiency
the property of society
getting the most it can
from its scarce resources
equality
the property of distributing economic prosperity
uniformly among the
members of society
Principle 2: The Cost of Something Is
What You Give Up to Get It
Because people face trade-offs, making decisions requires comparing the costs
and benefits of alternative courses of action. In many cases, however, the cost of
an action is not as obvious as it might first appear.
Consider the decision to go to college. The main benefits are intellectual enrichment and a lifetime of better job opportunities. But what are the costs? To answer
this question, you might be tempted to add up the money you spend on tuition,
books, room, and board. Yet this total does not truly represent what you give up
to spend a year in college.
There are two problems with this calculation. First, it includes some things
that are not really costs of going to college. Even if you quit school, you need a
place to sleep and food to eat. Room and board are costs of going to college only
to the extent that they are more expensive at college than elsewhere. Second, this
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6
PART I
INTRODUCTION
opportunity cost
whatever must be given
up to obtain some item
calculation ignores the largest cost of going to college—your time. When you
spend a year listening to lectures, reading textbooks, and writing papers, you cannot spend that time working at a job. For most students, the earnings given up to
attend school are the largest single cost of their education.
The opportunity cost of an item is what you give up to get that item. When
making any decision, decision makers should be aware of the opportunity costs
that accompany each possible action. In fact, they usually are. College athletes
who can earn millions if they drop out of school and play professional sports are
well aware that their opportunity cost of college is very high. It is not surprising
that they often decide that the benefit of a college education is not worth the cost.
Principle 3: Rational People Think at the Margin
rational people
people who systematically
and purposefully do the
best they can to achieve
their objectives
marginal change
a small incremental
adjustment to a plan of
action
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-001.indd 6
Economists normally assume that people are rational. Rational people systematically and purposefully do the best they can to achieve their objectives, given the
available opportunities. As you study economics, you will encounter firms that
decide how many workers to hire and how much of their product to manufacture
and sell to maximize profits. You will also encounter individuals who decide how
much time to spend working and what goods and services to buy with the resulting income to achieve the highest possible level of satisfaction.
Rational people know that decisions in life are rarely black and white but usually involve shades of gray. At dinnertime, the decision you face is not between
fasting or eating like a pig but whether to take that extra spoonful of mashed potatoes. When exams roll around, your decision is not between blowing them off or
studying 24 hours a day but whether to spend an extra hour reviewing your notes
instead of watching TV. Economists use the term marginal change to describe
a small incremental adjustment to an existing plan of action. Keep in mind that
margin means “edge,” so marginal changes are adjustments around the edges of
what you are doing. Rational people often make decisions by comparing marginal
benefits and marginal costs.
For example, consider an airline deciding how much to charge passengers who
fly standby. Suppose that flying a 200-seat plane across the United States costs the
airline $100,000. In this case, the average cost of each seat is $100,000/200, which is
$500. One might be tempted to conclude that the airline should never sell a ticket
for less than $500. Actually, a rational airline can often find ways to raise its profits
by thinking at the margin. Imagine that a plane is about to take off with ten empty
seats, and a standby passenger waiting at the gate will pay $300 for a seat. Should
the airline sell the ticket? Of course it should. If the plane has empty seats, the cost
of adding one more passenger is tiny. Although the average cost of flying a passenger is $500, the marginal cost is merely the cost of the bag of peanuts and can
of soda that the extra passenger will consume. As long as the standby passenger
pays more than the marginal cost, selling the ticket is profitable.
Marginal decision making can help explain some otherwise puzzling economic phenomena. Here is a classic question: Why is water so cheap, while
diamonds are so expensive? Humans need water to survive, while diamonds
are unnecessary; but for some reason, people are willing to pay much more for
a diamond than for a cup of water. The reason is that a person’s willingness to
pay for a good is based on the marginal benefit that an extra unit of the good
would yield. The marginal benefit, in turn, depends on how many units a person
already has. Water is essential, but the marginal benefit of an extra cup is small
because water is plentiful. By contrast, no one needs diamonds to survive, but
because diamonds are so rare, people consider the marginal benefit of an extra
diamond to be large.
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CHAPTER 1
TEN PRINCIPLES OF ECONOMICS
7
A rational decision maker takes an action if and only if the marginal benefit of the
action exceeds the marginal cost. This principle can explain why airlines are willing to sell a ticket below average cost and why people are willing to pay more for
diamonds than for water. It can take some time to get used to the logic of marginal
thinking, but the study of economics will give you ample opportunity to practice.
Principle 4: People Respond to Incentives
An incentive is something that induces a person to act, such as the prospect of a
punishment or a reward. Because rational people make decisions by comparing
costs and benefits, they respond to incentives. You will see that incentives play
a central role in the study of economics. One economist went so far as to suggest
that the entire field could be summarized simply: “People respond to incentives.
The rest is commentary.”
Incentives are crucial to analyzing how markets work. For example, when the
price of an apple rises, people decide to eat fewer apples. At the same time, apple
orchards decide to hire more workers and harvest more apples. In other words,
a higher price in a market provides an incentive for buyers to consume less and
an incentive for sellers to produce more. As we will see, the influence of prices on
the behavior of consumers and producers is crucial for how a market economy
allocates scarce resources.
Public policymakers should never forget about incentives: Many policies change
the costs or benefits that people face and, therefore, alter their behavior. A tax on
gasoline, for instance, encourages people to drive smaller, more fuel-efficient cars.
That is one reason people drive smaller cars in Europe, where gasoline taxes are
high, than in the United States, where gasoline taxes are low. A gasoline tax also
encourages people to carpool, take public transportation, and live closer to where
they work. If the tax were larger, more people would be driving hybrid cars, and
if it were large enough, they would switch to electric cars.
When policymakers fail to consider how their policies affect incentives, they
often end up with unintended consequences. For example, consider public policy
regarding auto safety. Today, all cars have seat belts, but this was not true 50 years
ago. In the 1960s, Ralph Nader’s book Unsafe at Any Speed generated much public
concern over auto safety. Congress responded with laws requiring seat belts as
standard equipment on new cars.
How does a seat belt law affect auto safety? The direct effect is obvious: When
a person wears a seat belt, the probability of surviving an auto accident rises. But
that’s not the end of the story because the law also affects behavior by altering
incentives. The relevant behavior here is the speed and care with which drivers
operate their cars. Driving slowly and carefully is costly because it uses the
driver’s time and energy. When deciding how safely to drive, rational people compare, perhaps unconsciously, the marginal benefit from safer driving to the marginal cost. As a result, they drive more slowly and carefully when the benefit of
increased safety is high. For example, when road conditions are icy, people drive
more attentively and at lower speeds than they do when road conditions are clear.
Consider how a seat belt law alters a driver’s cost–benefit calculation. Seat belts
make accidents less costly because they reduce the likelihood of injury or death.
In other words, seat belts reduce the benefits of slow and careful driving. People
respond to seat belts as they would to an improvement in road conditions—by
driving faster and less carefully. The result of a seat belt law, therefore, is a larger
number of accidents. The decline in safe driving has a clear, adverse impact on
pedestrians, who are more likely to find themselves in an accident but (unlike the
drivers) don’t have the benefit of added protection.
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-001.indd 7
incentive
something that induces a
person to act
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8
PART I
INTRODUCTION
At first, this discussion of incentives and seat belts might seem like idle speculation. Yet in a classic 1975 study, economist Sam Peltzman argued that auto-safety
laws have had many of these effects. According to Peltzman’s evidence, these
laws produce both fewer deaths per accident and more accidents. He concluded
that the net result is little change in the number of driver deaths and an increase
in the number of pedestrian deaths.
Peltzman’s analysis of auto safety is an offbeat and controversial example of
the general principle that people respond to incentives. When analyzing any policy, we must consider not only the direct effects but also the less obvious indirect
effects that work through incentives. If the policy changes incentives, it will cause
people to alter their behavior.
The Incentive Effects of
Gasoline Prices
From 2005 to 2008 the price of oil in world oil markets skyrocketed, the result of
limited supplies together with surging demand from robust world growth, especially in China. The price of gasoline in the United States rose from about $2 to
about $4 a gallon. At the time, the news was filled with stories about how people
responded to the increased incentive to conserve, sometimes in obvious ways,
sometimes in less obvious ways.
Here is a sampling of various stories:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
© AP PHOTO/STEPHAN SAVOIA
•
Hip-hop mogul Sean
“Diddy” Combs responds
to incentives.
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-001.indd 8
•
“As Gas Prices Soar, Buyers Are Flocking to Small Cars”
“As Gas Prices Climb, So Do Scooter Sales”
“Gas Prices Knock Bicycles Sales, Repairs into Higher Gear”
“Gas Prices Send Surge of Riders to Mass Transit”
“Camel Demand Up as Oil Price Soars“: Farmers in the Indian state of
Rajasthan are rediscovering the humble camel. As the cost of running gasguzzling tractors soars, even-toed ungulates are making a comeback.
“The Airlines Are Suffering, But the Order Books of Boeing and Airbus
Are Bulging“: Demand for new, more fuel-efficient aircraft has never been
greater. The latest versions of the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737, the singleaisle workhorses for which demand is strongest, are up to 40% cheaper to
run than the vintage planes some American airlines still use.
“Home Buying Practices Adjust to High Gas Prices“: In his hunt for a new
home, Demetrius Stroud crunched the numbers to find out that, with gas
prices climbing, moving near an Amtrak station is the best thing for his wallet.
“Gas Prices Drive Students to Online Courses“: For Christy LaBadie, a sophomore at Northampton Community College, the 30-minute drive from her
home to the Bethlehem, Pa., campus has become a financial hardship now
that gasoline prices have soared to more than $4 a gallon. So this semester she
decided to take an online course to save herself the trip—and the money.
“Diddy Halts Private Jet Flights Over Fuel Prices“: Fuel prices have
grounded an unexpected frequent-flyer: Sean “Diddy” Combs. . . . The
hip-hop mogul said he is now flying on commercial airlines instead of in
private jets, which Combs said had previously cost him $200,000 and up for
a roundtrip between New York and Los Angeles. ”I’m actually flying commercial,“ Diddy said before walking onto an airplane, sitting in a first-class
seat and flashing his boarding pass to the camera. ”That’s how high gas
prices are.”
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CHAPTER 1
TEN PRINCIPLES OF ECONOMICS
9
Many of these developments proved transitory. The economic downturn that
began in 2008 and continued into 2009 reduced the world demand for oil, and the
price of gasoline declined substantially. No word yet on whether Mr. Combs has
returned to his private jet. Q
QUICK QUIZ Describe an important trade-off you recently faced. • Give an example of
some action that has both a monetary and nonmonetary opportunity cost. • Describe an
incentive your parents offered to you in an effort to influence your behavior.
in the news
Incentive Pay
As this article illustrates, how people are paid affects their incentives and
the decisions they make. (The article’s author, by the way, subsequently
became one of the chief economic advisers to President Barack Obama.)
Where the Buses
Run on Time
BY AUSTAN GOOLSBEE
O
n a summer afternoon, the drive home
from the University of Chicago to the
north side of the city must be one of the
most beautiful commutes in the world. On
the left on Lake Shore Drive you pass Grant
Park, some of the world’s first skyscrapers,
and the Sears Tower. On the right is the
intense blue of Lake Michigan. But for all the
beauty, the traffic can be hell. So, if you drive
the route every day, you learn the shortcuts.
You know that if it backs up from the Buckingham Fountain all the way to McCormick
Place, you’re better off taking the surface
streets and getting back onto Lake Shore
Drive a few miles north.
A lot of buses, however, wait in the traffic jams. I have always wondered about that:
Why don’t the bus drivers use the shortcuts?
Surely they know about them—they drive
the same route every day, and they probably
avoid the traffic when they drive their own
cars. Buses don’t stop on Lake Shore Drive,
so they wouldn’t strand anyone by detouring around the congestion. And when buses
get delayed in heavy traffic, it wreaks havoc
on the scheduled service. Instead of arriving
once every 10 minutes, three buses come in
at the same time after half an hour. That sort
of bunching is the least efficient way to run
a public transportation system. So, why not
take the surface streets if that would keep
the schedule properly spaced and on time?
You might think at first that the problem
is that the drivers aren’t paid enough to
strategize. But Chicago bus drivers are the
seventh-highest paid in the nation; full-timers
earned more than $23 an hour, according to
a November 2004 survey. The problem may
have to do not with how much they are paid,
but how they are paid. At least, that’s the
implication of a new study of Chilean bus drivers by Ryan Johnson and David Reiley of the
University of Arizona and Juan Carlos Muñoz
of Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.
Companies in Chile pay bus drivers one
of two ways: either by the hour or by the
passenger. Paying by the passenger leads
to significantly shorter delays. Give them
incentives, and drivers start acting like regular people do. They take shortcuts when the
traffic is bad. They take shorter meal breaks
and bathroom breaks. They want to get on
the road and pick up more passengers as
quickly as they can. In short, their productivity increases….
Not everything about incentive pay is
perfect, of course. When bus drivers start
moving from place to place more quickly,
they get in more accidents (just like the rest
of us). Some passengers also complain that
the rides make them nauseated because the
drivers stomp on the gas as soon as the last
passenger gets on the bus. Yet when given
the choice, people overwhelmingly choose
the bus companies that get them where
they’re going on time. More than 95 percent
of the routes in Santiago use incentive pay.
Perhaps we should have known that
incentive pay could increase bus driver productivity. After all, the taxis in Chicago take
the shortcuts on Lake Shore Drive to avoid
the traffic that buses just sit in. Since taxi
drivers earn money for every trip they make,
they want to get you home as quickly as
possible so they can pick up somebody else.
Source: Slate.com, March 16, 2006.
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10
PART I
INTRODUCTION
How People Interact
The first four principles discussed how individuals make decisions. As we go
about our lives, many of our decisions affect not only ourselves but other people
as well. The next three principles concern how people interact with one another.
Principle 5: Trade Can Make Everyone Better Off
“For $5 a week you can
watch baseball without
being nagged to cut the
grass!”
You may have heard on the news that the Japanese are our competitors in the
world economy. In some ways, this is true because American and Japanese firms
produce many of the same goods. Ford and Toyota compete for the same customers
in the market for automobiles. Apple and Sony compete for the same customers in
the market for digital music players.
Yet it is easy to be misled when thinking about competition among countries.
Trade between the United States and Japan is not like a sports contest in which
one side wins and the other side loses. In fact, the opposite is true: Trade between
two countries can make each country better off.
To see why, consider how trade affects your family. When a member of your
family looks for a job, he or she competes against members of other families who
are looking for jobs. Families also compete against one another when they go
shopping because each family wants to buy the best goods at the lowest prices. In
a sense, each family in the economy is competing with all other families.
Despite this competition, your family would not be better off isolating itself
from all other families. If it did, your family would need to grow its own food,
make its own clothes, and build its own home. Clearly, your family gains much
from its ability to trade with others. Trade allows each person to specialize in the
activities he or she does best, whether it is farming, sewing, or home building.
By trading with others, people can buy a greater variety of goods and services at
lower cost.
Countries as well as families benefit from the ability to trade with one another.
Trade allows countries to specialize in what they do best and to enjoy a greater
variety of goods and services. The Japanese, as well as the French and the
Egyptians and the Brazilians, are as much our partners in the world economy as
they are our competitors.
market economy
an economy that allocates
resources through the
decentralized decisions
of many firms and
households as they
interact in markets for
goods and services
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-001.indd 10
The collapse of communism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe in the 1980s
may be the most important change in the world during the past half century.
Communist countries worked on the premise that government officials were in
the best position to allocate the economy’s scarce resources. These central planners decided what goods and services were produced, how much was produced,
and who produced and consumed these goods and services. The theory behind
central planning was that only the government could organize economic activity
in a way that promoted economic well-being for the country as a whole.
Most countries that once had centrally planned economies have abandoned
the system and are instead developing market economies. In a market economy,
the decisions of a central planner are replaced by the decisions of millions of
firms and households. Firms decide whom to hire and what to make. Households
decide which firms to work for and what to buy with their incomes. These firms
FROM THE WALL STREET JOURNAL—
PERMISSION, CARTOON FEATURES SYNDICATE
Principle 6: Markets Are Usually a Good Way to
Organize Economic Activity
09/12/10 8:02 PM
CHAPTER 1
TEN PRINCIPLES OF ECONOMICS
11
and households interact in the marketplace, where prices and self-interest guide
their decisions.
At first glance, the success of market economies is puzzling. In a market
economy, no one is looking out for the economic well-being of society as a whole.
Free markets contain many buyers and sellers of numerous goods and services,
and all of them are interested primarily in their own well-being. Yet despite
decentralized decision making and self-interested decision makers, market economies have proven remarkably successful in organizing economic activity to promote overall economic well-being.
In his 1776 book An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations,
economist Adam Smith made the most famous observation in all of economics: Households and firms interacting in markets act as if they are guided by an
“invisible hand” that leads them to desirable market outcomes. One of our goals
in this book is to understand how this invisible hand works its magic.
As you study economics, you will learn that prices are the instrument with
which the invisible hand directs economic activity. In any market, buyers look at
the price when determining how much to demand, and sellers look at the price
when deciding how much to supply. As a result of the decisions that buyers and
sellers make, market prices reflect both the value of a good to society and the
cost to society of making the good. Smith’s great insight was that prices adjust to
guide these individual buyers and sellers to reach outcomes that, in many cases,
maximize the well-being of society as a whole.
Smith’s insight has an important corollary: When the government prevents
prices from adjusting naturally to supply and demand, it impedes the invisible
hand’s ability to coordinate the decisions of the households and firms that make
up the economy. This corollary explains why taxes adversely affect the allocation of resources, for they distort prices and thus the decisions of households
and firms. It also explains the great harm caused by policies that directly control
prices, such as rent control. And it explains the failure of communism. In communist countries, prices were not determined in the marketplace but were dictated by central planners. These planners lacked the necessary information about
consumers’ tastes and producers’ costs, which in a market economy is reflected
in prices. Central planners failed because they tried to run the economy with one
hand tied behind their backs—the invisible hand of the marketplace.
Principle 7: Governments Can Sometimes
Improve Market Outcomes
If the invisible hand of the market is so great, why do we need government? One
purpose of studying economics is to refine your view about the proper role and
scope of government policy.
One reason we need government is that the invisible hand can work its magic
only if the government enforces the rules and maintains the institutions that are
key to a market economy. Most important, market economies need institutions
to enforce property rights so individuals can own and control scarce resources.
A farmer won’t grow food if he expects his crop to be stolen; a restaurant won’t
serve meals unless it is assured that customers will pay before they leave; and an
entertainment company won’t produce DVDs if too many potential customers
avoid paying by making illegal copies. We all rely on government-provided
police and courts to enforce our rights over the things we produce—and the invisible hand counts on our ability to enforce our rights.
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-001.indd 11
property rights
the ability of an individual
to own and exercise
control over scarce
resources
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12
PART I
INTRODUCTION
FYI
Adam Smith and the Invisible Hand
I
© BETTMANN/CORBIS
t may be only a coincidence that Adam Smith’s great book The
Wealth of Nations was published in 1776, the exact year American revolutionaries signed the Declaration of Independence. But
the two documents share a point of view that was prevalent at the
time: Individuals are usually best left to their own devices, without
the heavy hand of government guiding their actions. This political
philosophy provides the intellectual basis for the market economy
and for free society more generally.
Why do decentralized market economies work so well? Is it
because people can be counted on to treat one another with love
and kindness? Not at all. Here is Adam Smith’s description of how
people interact in a market economy:
Man has almost constant occasion for the
help of his brethren, and it is in vain for him to
expect it from their benevolence only. He will
be more likely to prevail if he can interest their
self-love in his favour, and show them that it
is for their own advantage to do for him what
he requires of them. . . . Give me that which I
want, and you shall have this which you want,
is the meaning of every such offer; and it is in
this manner that we obtain from one another
the far greater part of those good offices
which we stand in need of.
market failure
a situation in which a
market left on its own
fails to allocate resources
efficiently
externality
the impact of one
person’s actions on the
well-being of a bystander
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-001.indd 12
It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer,
or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard
to their own interest. We address ourselves, not to their
humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of
our own necessities but of their advantages. Nobody but a
beggar chooses to depend chiefly upon the benevolence of
his fellow-citizens. . . .
Every individual . . . neither intends to promote the public
interest, nor knows how much he is promoting it. . . . He
intends only his own gain, and he is in this, as in many other
cases, led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was
no part of his intention. Nor is it always the worse for the
society that it was no part of it. By pursuing his own interest he
frequently promotes that of the society more effectually than when he really intends to promote it.
Adam Smith
Smith is saying that participants in the economy
are motivated by self-interest and that the “invisible
hand” of the marketplace guides this self-interest
into promoting general economic well-being.
Many of Smith’s insights remain at the center of
modern economics. Our analysis in the coming chapters will allow us to express Smith’s conclusions more
precisely and to analyze more fully the strengths and
weaknesses of the market’s invisible hand.
Yet there is another reason we need government: The invisible hand is powerful,
but it is not omnipotent. There are two broad reasons for a government to intervene
in the economy and change the allocation of resources that people would choose
on their own: to promote efficiency or to promote equality. That is, most policies
aim either to enlarge the economic pie or to change how the pie is divided.
Consider first the goal of efficiency. Although the invisible hand usually leads
markets to allocate resources to maximize the size of the economic pie, this is not
always the case. Economists use the term market failure to refer to a situation in
which the market on its own fails to produce an efficient allocation of resources.
As we will see, one possible cause of market failure is an externality, which is
the impact of one person’s actions on the well-being of a bystander. The classic
09/12/10 8:02 PM
CHAPTER 1
example of an externality is pollution. Another possible cause of market failure
is market power, which refers to the ability of a single person (or small group)
to unduly influence market prices. For example, if everyone in town needs water
but there is only one well, the owner of the well is not subject to the rigorous
competition with which the invisible hand normally keeps self-interest in check.
In the presence of externalities or market power, well-designed public policy can
enhance economic efficiency.
Now consider the goal of equality. Even when the invisible hand is yielding
efficient outcomes, it can nonetheless leave sizable disparities in economic wellbeing. A market economy rewards people according to their ability to produce
things that other people are willing to pay for. The world’s best basketball
player earns more than the world’s best chess player simply because people are
willing to pay more to watch basketball than chess. The invisible hand does not
ensure that everyone has sufficient food, decent clothing, and adequate healthcare. This inequality may, depending on one’s political philosophy, call for government intervention. In practice, many public policies, such as the income tax
and the welfare system, aim to achieve a more equal distribution of economic
well-being.
To say that the government can improve on market outcomes at times does
not mean that it always will. Public policy is made not by angels but by a political
process that is far from perfect. Sometimes policies are designed simply to reward
the politically powerful. Sometimes they are made by well-intentioned leaders
who are not fully informed. As you study economics, you will become a better
judge of when a government policy is justifiable because it promotes efficiency or
equality and when it is not.
TEN PRINCIPLES OF ECONOMICS
13
market power
the ability of a single
economic actor (or small
group of actors) to have
a substantial influence on
market prices
QUICK QUIZ Why is a country better off not isolating itself from all other countries? • Why do we have markets, and, according to economists, what roles should
government play in them?
How the Economy as a Whole Works
We started by discussing how individuals make decisions and then looked at how
people interact with one another. All these decisions and interactions together
make up “the economy.” The last three principles concern the workings of the
economy as a whole.
Principle 8: A Country’s Standard of Living Depends
on Its Ability to Produce Goods and Services
The differences in living standards around the world are staggering. In 2008, the
average American had an income of about $47,000. In the same year, the average
Mexican earned about $10,000, and the average Nigerian earned only $1,400. Not
surprisingly, this large variation in average income is reflected in various measures of the quality of life. Citizens of high-income countries have more TV sets,
more cars, better nutrition, better healthcare, and a longer life expectancy than
citizens of low-income countries.
Changes in living standards over time are also large. In the United States,
incomes have historically grown about 2 percent per year (after adjusting for
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-001.indd 13
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14
PART I
INTRODUCTION
productivity
the quantity of goods and
services produced from
each unit of labor input
changes in the cost of living). At this rate, average income doubles every 35 years.
Over the past century, average U.S. income has risen about eightfold.
What explains these large differences in living standards among countries and
over time? The answer is surprisingly simple. Almost all variation in living standards is attributable to differences in countries’ productivity—that is, the amount
of goods and services produced from each unit of labor input. In nations where
workers can produce a large quantity of goods and services per unit of time, most
people enjoy a high standard of living; in nations where workers are less productive, most people endure a more meager existence. Similarly, the growth rate of a
nation’s productivity determines the growth rate of its average income.
The fundamental relationship between productivity and living standards is
simple, but its implications are far-reaching. If productivity is the primary determinant of living standards, other explanations must be of secondary importance.
For example, it might be tempting to credit labor unions or minimum-wage laws
for the rise in living standards of American workers over the past century. Yet the
real hero of American workers is their rising productivity. As another example,
some commentators have claimed that increased competition from Japan and
other countries explained the slow growth in U.S. incomes during the 1970s and
1980s. Yet the real villain was not competition from abroad but flagging productivity growth in the United States.
The relationship between productivity and living standards also has profound
implications for public policy. When thinking about how any policy will affect living standards, the key question is how it will affect our ability to produce goods
and services. To boost living standards, policymakers need to raise productivity
by ensuring that workers are well educated, have the tools needed to produce
goods and services, and have access to the best available technology.
in the news
Why You Should Study Economics
In this excerpt from a commencement address, the former president
of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas makes the case for studying
economics
The Dismal Science?
Hardly!
BY ROBERT D. MCTEER, JR.
M
y take on training in economics is that
it becomes increasingly valuable as
you move up the career ladder. I can’t imagine a better major for corporate CEOs, congressmen, or American presidents. You’ve
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-001.indd 14
learned a systematic, disciplined way of
thinking that will serve you well. By contrast,
the economically challenged must be perplexed about how it is that economies work
better the fewer people they have in charge.
Who does the planning? Who makes decisions? Who decides what to produce?
For my money, Adam Smith’s invisible
hand is the most important thing you’ve
learned by studying economics. You understand how we can each work for our own
self-interest and still produce a desirable
social outcome. You know how uncoordinated activity gets coordinated by the market
to enhance the wealth of nations. You understand the magic of markets and the dangers
of tampering with them too much. You know
better what you first learned in kindergarten:
that you shouldn’t kill or cripple the goose
that lays the golden eggs. . . .
Economics training will help you understand fallacies and unintended consequences.
09/12/10 8:02 PM
CHAPTER 1
TEN PRINCIPLES OF ECONOMICS
15
TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION.
Principle 9: Prices Rise When the Government
Prints Too Much Money
In January 1921, a daily newspaper in Germany cost 0.30 marks. Less than two
years later, in November 1922, the same newspaper cost 70,000,000 marks. All
other prices in the economy rose by similar amounts. This episode is one of history’s most spectacular examples of inflation, an increase in the overall level of
prices in the economy.
Although the United States has never experienced inflation even close to
that of Germany in the 1920s, inflation has at times been an economic problem. During the 1970s, for instance, when the overall level of prices more
than doubled, President Gerald Ford called inflation “public enemy number
one.” By contrast, inflation in the first decade of the 21st century has run
about 2½ percent per year; at this rate, it would take almost 30 years for
prices to double. Because high inflation imposes various costs on society,
keeping inflation at a low level is a goal of economic policymakers around
the world.
What causes inflation? In almost all cases of large or persistent inflation, the
culprit is growth in the quantity of money. When a government creates large
quantities of the nation’s money, the value of the money falls. In Germany in
the early 1920s, when prices were on average tripling every month, the quantity
of money was also tripling every month. Although less dramatic, the economic
history of the United States points to a similar conclusion: The high inflation of
the 1970s was associated with rapid growth in the quantity of money, and the
low inflation of more recent experience was associated with slow growth in the
quantity of money.
In fact, I am inclined to define economics as
the study of how to anticipate unintended
consequences. . . .
Little in the literature seems more relevant to contemporary economic debates
than what usually is called the broken
window fallacy. Whenever a government
program is justified not on its merits but by
the jobs it will create, remember the broken
window: Some teenagers, being the little
beasts that they are, toss a brick through
a bakery window. A crowd gathers and
laments, “What a shame.” But before you
know it, someone suggests a silver lining to
the situation: Now the baker will have to
spend money to have the window repaired.
This will add to the income of the repairman, who will spend his additional income,
which will add to another seller’s income,
and so on. You know the drill. The chain of
spending will multiply and generate higher
income and employment. If the broken
window is large enough, it might produce
an economic boom! . . .
Most voters fall for the broken window
fallacy, but not economics majors. They will
say, “Hey, wait a minute!” If the baker
hadn’t spent his money on window repair,
he would have spent it on the new suit he
was saving to buy. Then the tailor would
have the new income to spend, and so on.
The broken window didn’t create net new
spending; it just diverted spending from
somewhere else. The broken window does
not create new activity, just different activity. People see the activity that takes place.
They don’t see the activity that would have
taken place.
The broken window fallacy is perpetuated in many forms. Whenever job creation
inflation
an increase in the overall
level of prices in the
economy
“Well it may have
been 68 cents when
you got in line, but
it’s 74 cents now!”
or retention is the primary objective I call
it the job-counting fallacy. Economics
majors understand the non-intuitive reality that real progress comes from job
destruction. It once took 90 percent of
our population to grow our food. Now it
takes 3 percent. Pardon me, Willie, but are
we worse off because of the job losses in
agriculture? The would-have-been farmers
are now college professors and computer
gurus. . . .
So instead of counting jobs, we
should make every job count. We will
occasionally hit a soft spot when we
have a mismatch of supply and demand
in the labor market. But that is temporary. Don’t become a Luddite and destroy
the machinery, or become a protectionist
and try to grow bananas in New York
City.
Source: The Wall Street Journal, June 4, 2003.
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-001.indd 15
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16
PART I
INTRODUCTION
Principle 10: Society Faces a Short-Run Trade-off
between Inflation and Unemployment
Although a higher level of prices is, in the long run, the primary effect of
increasing the quantity of money, the short-run story is more complex and controversial. Most economists describe the short-run effects of monetary injections
as follows:
• Increasing the amount of money in the economy stimulates the overall level
of spending and thus the demand for goods and services.
• Higher demand may over time cause firms to raise their prices, but in the
•
business cycle
fluctuations in
economic activity, such
as employment and
production
meantime, it also encourages them to hire more workers and produce a
larger quantity of goods and services.
More hiring means lower unemployment.
This line of reasoning leads to one final economy-wide trade-off: a short-run
trade-off between inflation and unemployment.
Although some economists still question these ideas, most accept that society
faces a short-run trade-off between inflation and unemployment. This simply
means that, over a period of a year or two, many economic policies push inflation and unemployment in opposite directions. Policymakers face this trade-off
regardless of whether inflation and unemployment both start out at high levels (as
they did in the early 1980s), at low levels (as they did in the late 1990s), or someplace in between. This short-run trade-off plays a key role in the analysis of the
business cycle—the irregular and largely unpredictable fluctuations in economic
activity, as measured by the production of goods and services or the number of
people employed.
Policymakers can exploit the short-run trade-off between inflation and
unemployment using various policy instruments. By changing the amount
that the government spends, the amount it taxes, and the amount of money
it prints, policymakers can influence the overall demand for goods and services. Changes in demand in turn influence the combination of inflation and
unemployment that the economy experiences in the short run. Because these
instruments of economic policy are potentially so powerful, how policymakers
should use these instruments to control the economy, if at all, is a subject of
continuing debate.
This debate heated up in the early years of Barack Obama’s presidency. In 2008
and 2009, the U.S. economy, as well as many other economies around the world,
experienced a deep economic downturn. Problems in the financial system, caused
by bad bets on the housing market, spilled over into the rest of the economy,
causing incomes to fall and unemployment to soar. Policymakers responded in
various ways to increase the overall demand for goods and services. President
Obama’s first major initiative was a stimulus package of reduced taxes and
increased government spending. At the same time, the nation’s central bank, the
Federal Reserve, increased the supply of money. The goal of these policies was to
reduce unemployment. Some feared, however, that these policies might over time
lead to an excessive level of inflation.
QUICK QUIZ List and briefly explain the three principles that describe how the
economy as a whole works.
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-001.indd 16
09/12/10 8:02 PM
CHAPTER 1
TEN PRINCIPLES OF ECONOMICS
17
FYI
How to Read This Book
E
conomics is fun, but it can also be hard to learn. My aim in writing this text is to make it as enjoyable and easy as possible. But
you, the student, also have a role to play. Experience shows that if
you are actively involved as you study this book, you will enjoy a
better outcome both on your exams and in the years that follow.
Here are a few tips about how best to read this book.
1. Read before class. Students do better when they read the
relevant textbook chapter before attending a lecture. You will
understand the lecture better, and your questions will be better
focused on where you need extra help.
2. Summarize, don’t highlight. Running a yellow marker over
the text is too passive an activity to keep your mind engaged.
Instead, when you come to the end of a section, take a minute
and summarize what you just learned in your own words, writing
your summary in the wide margins we’ve provided. When you’ve
finished the chapter, compare your summaries with the one at
the end of the chapter. Did you pick up the main points?
3. Test yourself. Throughout the book, Quick Quizzes offer instant
feedback to find out if you’ve learned what you are supposed to.
Take the opportunity to write down your answer, and then check
it against the answers provided at this book’s website. The quizzes are meant to test your basic comprehension. If your answer
is incorrect, you probably need to review the section.
4. Practice, practice, practice. At the end of each chapter, Questions for Review test your understanding, and Problems and
Applications ask you to apply and extend the material. Perhaps
your instructor will assign some of these exercises as homework.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
If so, do them. If not, do them anyway. The more you use your
new knowledge, the more solid it becomes.
Go online. The publisher of this book maintains an extensive
website to help you in your study of economics. It includes
additional examples, applications, and problems, as well as quizzes so you can test yourself. Check it out. The website is www
.cengage.com/economics/mankiw.
Study in groups. After you’ve read the book and worked problems on your own, get together with classmates to discuss the
material. You will learn from each other—an example of the
gains from trade.
Teach someone. As all teachers know, there is no better way
to learn something than to teach it to someone else. Take the
opportunity to teach new economic concepts to a study partner,
a friend, a parent, or even a pet.
Don’t skip the real-world examples. In the midst of all the numbers, graphs, and strange new words, it is easy to lose sight of
what economics is all about. The Case Studies and In the News
boxes sprinkled throughout this book should help remind you.
They show how the theory is tied to events happening in all our
lives.
Apply economic thinking to your daily life. Once you’ve read
about how others apply economics to the real world, try it
yourself! You can use economic analysis to better understand
your own decisions, the economy around you, and the events
you read about in the newspaper. The world may never look the
same again.
Conclusion
You now have a taste of what economics is all about. In the coming chapters, we
develop many specific insights about people, markets, and economies. Mastering
these insights will take some effort, but it is not an overwhelming task. The field of
economics is based on a few big ideas that can be applied in many different situations.
Throughout this book, we will refer back to the Ten Principles of Economics highlighted in this chapter and summarized in Table 1. Keep these building blocks
in mind: Even the most sophisticated economic analysis is founded on the ten
principles introduced here.
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-001.indd 17
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18
PART I
Table
INTRODUCTION
1
How People Make Decisions
1: People Face Trade-offs
2: The Cost of Something Is What You Give Up to Get It
3: Rational People Think at the Margin
4: People Respond to Incentives
Ten Principles of Economics
How People Interact
5: Trade Can Make Everyone Better Off
6: Markets Are Usually a Good Way to Organize Economic Activity
7: Governments Can Sometimes Improve Market Outcomes
How the Economy as a Whole Works
8: A Country’s Standard of Living Depends on Its Ability to Produce Goods and
Services
9: Prices Rise When the Government Prints Too Much Money
10: Society Faces a Short-Run Trade-off between Inflation and Unemployment
SUMMARY
SU
• The fundamental lessons about individual decision making are that people face trade-offs
among alternative goals, that the cost of any
action is measured in terms of forgone opportunities, that rational people make decisions by
comparing marginal costs and marginal benefits, and that people change their behavior in
response to the incentives they face.
are usually a good way of coordinating economic
activity among people, and that the government
can potentially improve market outcomes by
remedying a market failure or by promoting
greater economic equality.
• The fundamental lessons about the economy
as a whole are that productivity is the ultimate
source of living standards, that growth in the
quantity of money is the ultimate source of inflation, and that society faces a short-run trade-off
between inflation and unemployment.
• The fundamental lessons about interactions
among people are that trade and interdependence can be mutually beneficial, that markets
KEY CONC
CONCEPTS
EPTS
scarcity, p. 4
economics, p. 4
efficiency, p. 5
equality, p. 5
opportunity cost, p. 6
rational people, p. 6
marginal change, p. 6
incentive, p. 7
market economy, p. 10
property rights, p. 11
market failure, p. 12
externality, p. 12
market power, p. 13
productivity, p. 14
inflation, p. 15
business cycle, p. 16
QUEST IO
IONS
NS FOR
FO R R EVIEW
1. Give three examples of important trade-offs that
you face in your life.
2. What is the opportunity cost of seeing a movie?
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-001.indd 18
3. Water is necessary for life. Is the marginal benefit of a glass of water large or small?
4. Why should policymakers think about incentives?
09/12/10 8:02 PM
CHAPTER 1
5. Why isn’t trade among countries like a game
with some winners and some losers?
6. What does the “invisible hand” of the marketplace do?
7. Explain the two main causes of market failure
and give an example of each.
TEN PRINCIPLES OF ECONOMICS
19
8. Why is productivity important?
9. What is inflation and what causes it?
10. How are inflation and unemployment related in
the short run?
PROBLEMS
PRO
BLEMS AND APPLICATIONS
APPLICATION S
1. Describe some of the trade-offs faced by each of
the following:
a. a family deciding whether to buy a new car
b. a member of Congress deciding how much
to spend on national parks
c. a company president deciding whether to
open a new factory
d. a professor deciding how much to prepare
for class
e. a recent college graduate deciding whether
to go to graduate school
2. You are trying to decide whether to take a
vacation. Most of the costs of the vacation (airfare, hotel, and forgone wages) are measured in
dollars, but the benefits of the vacation are psychological. How can you compare the benefits
to the costs?
3. You were planning to spend Saturday working
at your part-time job, but a friend asks you to
go skiing. What is the true cost of going skiing?
Now suppose you had been planning to spend
the day studying at the library. What is the cost
of going skiing in this case? Explain.
4. You win $100 in a basketball pool. You have
a choice between spending the money now or
putting it away for a year in a bank account
that pays 5 percent interest. What is the opportunity cost of spending the $100 now?
5. The company that you manage has invested
$5 million in developing a new product, but the
development is not quite finished. At a recent
meeting, your salespeople report that the introduction of competing products has reduced
the expected sales of your new product to
$3 million. If it would cost $1 million to finish
development and make the product, should
you go ahead and do so? What is the most that
you should pay to complete development?
6. The Social Security system provides income for
people over age 65. If a recipient of Social
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-001.indd 19
Security decides to work and earn some
income, the amount he or she receives in Social
Security benefits is typically reduced.
a. How does the provision of Social Security
affect people’s incentive to save while
working?
b. How does the reduction in benefits associated with higher earnings affect people’s
incentive to work past age 65?
7. A 1996 bill reforming the federal government’s
antipoverty programs limited many welfare
recipients to only two years of benefits.
a. How does this change affect the incentives
for working?
b. How might this change represent a trade-off
between equality and efficiency?
8. Your roommate is a better cook than you are,
but you can clean more quickly than your
roommate can. If your roommate did all the
cooking and you did all the cleaning, would
your chores take you more or less time than if
you divided each task evenly? Give a similar
example of how specialization and trade can
make two countries both better off.
9. Explain whether each of the following government activities is motivated by a concern about
equality or a concern about efficiency. In the
case of efficiency, discuss the type of market
failure involved.
a. regulating cable TV prices
b. providing some poor people with vouchers
that can be used to buy food
c. prohibiting smoking in public places
d. breaking up Standard Oil (which once
owned 90 percent of all oil refineries) into
several smaller companies
e. imposing higher personal income tax rates
on people with higher incomes
f. instituting laws against driving while
intoxicated
09/12/10 8:02 PM
20
PART I
INTRODUCTION
10. Discuss each of the following statements from
the standpoints of equality and efficiency.
a. “Everyone in society should be guaranteed
the best healthcare possible.”
b. “When workers are laid off, they should be
able to collect unemployment benefits until
they find a new job.”
11. In what ways is your standard of living different from that of your parents or grandparents
when they were your age? Why have these
changes occurred?
12. Suppose Americans decide to save more of
their incomes. If banks lend this extra saving to
businesses, which use the funds to build new
factories, how might this lead to faster growth
in productivity? Who do you suppose benefits
from the higher productivity? Is society getting
a free lunch?
13. In 2010, President Barack Obama and Congress
enacted a healthcare reform bill in the United
States. Two goals of the bill were to provide
more Americans with health insurance (via subsidies for lower-income households financed
by taxes on higher-income households) and
to reduce the cost of healthcare (via various
reforms in how healthcare is provided).
a. How do these goals relate to equality and
efficiency?
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-001.indd 20
b. How might healthcare reform increase productivity in the United States?
c. How might healthcare reform decrease productivity in the United States?
14. During the Revolutionary War, the American
colonies could not raise enough tax revenue
to fully fund the war effort; to make up this
difference, the colonies decided to print more
money. Printing money to cover expenditures
is sometimes referred to as an “inflation tax.”
Who do you think is being “taxed” when more
money is printed? Why?
15. Imagine that you are a policymaker trying to
decide whether to reduce the rate of inflation.
To make an intelligent decision, what would
you need to know about inflation, unemployment, and the trade-off between them?
16. A policymaker is deciding how to finance the
construction of a new airport. He can either
pay for it by increasing citizens’ taxes or by
printing more money. What are some of the
short-run and long-run consequences of each
option?
For further information on topics in this chapter,
additional problems, applications, examples, online
quizzes, and more, please visit our website at
www.cengage.com/economics/mankiw.
09/12/10 8:02 PM
Thinking Like an
Economist
2
E
very field of study has its own language and its own way of thinking.
Mathematicians talk about axioms, integrals, and vector spaces. Psychologists talk about ego, id, and cognitive dissonance. Lawyers talk about
venue, torts, and promissory estoppel.
Economics is no different. Supply, demand, elasticity, comparative advantage,
consumer surplus, deadweight loss—these terms are part of the economist’s language. In the coming chapters, you will encounter many new terms and some
familiar words that economists use in specialized ways. At first, this new language may seem needlessly arcane. But as you will see, its value lies in its ability
to provide you with a new and useful way of thinking about the world in which
you live.
The purpose of this book is to help you learn the economist’s way of thinking.
Just as you cannot become a mathematician, psychologist, or lawyer overnight,
learning to think like an economist will take some time. Yet with a combination of
21
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-002.indd 21
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22
PART I
INTRODUCTION
theory, case studies, and examples of economics in the news, this book will give
you ample opportunity to develop and practice this skill.
Before delving into the substance and details of economics, it is helpful to have
an overview of how economists approach the world. This chapter discusses the
field’s methodology. What is distinctive about how economists confront a question? What does it mean to think like an economist?
The Economist as Scientist
Economists try to address their subject with a scientist’s objectivity. They
approach the study of the economy in much the same way a physicist
approaches the study of matter and a biologist approaches the study of life:
They devise theories, collect data, and then analyze these data in an attempt to
verify or refute their theories.
To beginners, it can seem odd to claim that economics is a science. After all,
economists do not work with test tubes or telescopes. The essence of science,
however, is the scientific method—the dispassionate development and testing of
theories about how the world works. This method of inquiry is as applicable to
studying a nation’s economy as it is to studying the earth’s gravity or a species’
evolution. As Albert Einstein once put it, “The whole of science is nothing more
than the refinement of everyday thinking.”
Although Einstein’s comment is as true for social sciences such as economics
as it is for natural sciences such as physics, most people are not accustomed to
looking at society through the eyes of a scientist. Let’s discuss some of the ways in
which economists apply the logic of science to examine how an economy works.
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-002.indd 22
The Scientific Method: Observation,
Theory, and More Observation
Isaac Newton, the famous 17th-century scientist and mathematician, allegedly
became intrigued one day when he saw an apple fall from a tree. This observation
motivated Newton to develop a theory of gravity that applies not only to an apple
falling to the earth but to any two objects in the universe. Subsequent testing of
Newton’s theory has shown that it works well in many circumstances (although,
as Einstein would later emphasize, not in all circumstances). Because Newton’s
theory has been so successful at explaining observation, it is still taught in undergraduate physics courses around the world.
This interplay between theory and observation also occurs in the field
of economics. An economist might live in a country experiencing rapidly
increasing prices and be moved by this observation to develop a theory of
inflation. The theory might assert that high inflation arises when the government prints too much money. To test this theory, the economist could collect
and analyze data on prices and money from many different countries. If
growth in the quantity of money were not at all related to the rate at which
prices are rising, the economist would start to doubt the validity of this
theory of inflation. If money growth and inflation were strongly correlated
in international data, as in fact they are, the economist would become more
confident in the theory.
Although economists use theory and observation like other scientists, they face
an obstacle that makes their task especially challenging: In economics, conducting
© J.B. HANDELSMAN. THE NEW YORKER
COLLECTION/ WWW.CARTOONBANK.COM
“I’m a social scientist,
Michael. That means I
can’t explain electricity
or anything like that,
but if you ever want to
know about people, I’m
your man.”
09/12/10 8:04 PM
CHAPTER 2
THINKING LIKE AN ECONOMIST
23
experiments is often difficult and sometimes impossible. Physicists studying
gravity can drop many objects in their laboratories to generate data to test their
theories. By contrast, economists studying inflation are not allowed to manipulate a nation’s monetary policy simply to generate useful data. Economists, like
astronomers and evolutionary biologists, usually have to make do with whatever
data the world happens to give them.
To find a substitute for laboratory experiments, economists pay close attention to the natural experiments offered by history. When a war in the Middle
East interrupts the flow of crude oil, for instance, oil prices skyrocket around the
world. For consumers of oil and oil products, such an event depresses living standards. For economic policymakers, it poses a difficult choice about how best to
respond. But for economic scientists, the event provides an opportunity to study
the effects of a key natural resource on the world’s economies. Throughout this
book, therefore, we consider many historical episodes. These episodes are valuable to study because they give us insight into the economy of the past and, more
important, because they allow us to illustrate and evaluate economic theories of
the present.
The Role of Assumptions
If you ask a physicist how long it would take a marble to fall from the top of a tenstory building, she will likely answer the question by assuming that the marble
falls in a vacuum. Of course, this assumption is false. In fact, the building is surrounded by air, which exerts friction on the falling marble and slows it down.
Yet the physicist will point out that the friction on the marble is so small that its
effect is negligible. Assuming the marble falls in a vacuum simplifies the problem
without substantially affecting the answer.
Economists make assumptions for the same reason: Assumptions can simplify
the complex world and make it easier to understand. To study the effects of
international trade, for example, we might assume that the world consists of only
two countries and that each country produces only two goods. In reality, there
are numerous countries, each of which produces thousands of different types of
goods. But by assuming two countries and two goods, we can focus our thinking
on the essence of the problem. Once we understand international trade in this simplified imaginary world, we are in a better position to understand international
trade in the more complex world in which we live.
The art in scientific thinking—whether in physics, biology, or economics—is
deciding which assumptions to make. Suppose, for instance, that instead of dropping a marble from the top of the building, we were dropping a beachball of the
same weight. Our physicist would realize that the assumption of no friction is
less accurate in this case: Friction exerts a greater force on a beachball than on a
marble because a beachball is much larger. The assumption that gravity works
in a vacuum is reasonable for studying a falling marble but not for studying a
falling beachball.
Similarly, economists use different assumptions to answer different questions. Suppose that we want to study what happens to the economy when the
government changes the number of dollars in circulation. An important piece
of this analysis, it turns out, is how prices respond. Many prices in the economy
change infrequently; the newsstand prices of magazines, for instance, change only
every few years. Knowing this fact may lead us to make different assumptions
when studying the effects of the policy change over different time horizons. For
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-002.indd 23
09/12/10 8:04 PM
24
PART I
INTRODUCTION
studying the short-run effects of the policy, we may assume that prices do not
change much. We may even make the extreme and artificial assumption that all
prices are completely fixed. For studying the long-run effects of the policy, however, we may assume that all prices are completely flexible. Just as a physicist
uses different assumptions when studying falling marbles and falling beachballs,
economists use different assumptions when studying the short-run and long-run
effects of a change in the quantity of money.
Economic Models
High school biology teachers teach basic anatomy with plastic replicas of the
human body. These models have all the major organs: the heart, the liver, the
kidneys, and so on. The models allow teachers to show their students very
simply how the important parts of the body fit together. Because these plastic models are stylized and omit many details, no one would mistake one of
them for a real person. Despite this lack of realism—indeed, because of this
lack of realism—studying these models is useful for learning how the human
body works.
Economists also use models to learn about the world, but instead of being
made of plastic, they are most often composed of diagrams and equations. Like a
biology teacher’s plastic model, economic models omit many details to allow us to
see what is truly important. Just as the biology teacher’s model does not include
all the body’s muscles and capillaries, an economist’s model does not include
every feature of the economy.
As we use models to examine various economic issues throughout this book,
you will see that all the models are built with assumptions. Just as a physicist
begins the analysis of a falling marble by assuming away the existence of friction,
economists assume away many of the details of the economy that are irrelevant for
studying the question at hand. All models—in physics, biology, and economics—
simplify reality to improve our understanding of it.
Our First Model: The Circular-Flow Diagram
circular-flow
diagram
a visual model of the
economy that shows
how dollars flow
through markets among
households and firms
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-002.indd 24
The economy consists of millions of people engaged in many activities—buying,
selling, working, hiring, manufacturing, and so on. To understand how the economy
works, we must find some way to simplify our thinking about all these activities. In
other words, we need a model that explains, in general terms, how the economy is
organized and how participants in the economy interact with one another.
Figure 1 presents a visual model of the economy called a circular-flow diagram.
In this model, the economy is simplified to include only two types of decision
makers—firms and households. Firms produce goods and services using inputs,
such as labor, land, and capital (buildings and machines). These inputs are called
the factors of production. Households own the factors of production and consume
all the goods and services that the firms produce.
Households and firms interact in two types of markets. In the markets for goods
and services, households are buyers, and firms are sellers. In particular, households
buy the output of goods and services that firms produce. In the markets for the factors of production, households are sellers, and firms are buyers. In these markets,
households provide the inputs that firms use to produce goods and services. The
circular-flow diagram offers a simple way of organizing the economic transactions that occur between households and firms in the economy.
The two loops of the circular-flow diagram are distinct but related. The inner
loop represents the flows of inputs and outputs. The households sell the use of
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CHAPTER 2
THINKING LIKE AN ECONOMIST
Figure
Revenue
Goods
and services
sold
MARKETS
FOR
GOODS AND SERVICES
• Firms sell
• Households buy
Factors of
production
Wages, rent,
and profit
MARKETS
FOR
FACTORS OF PRODUCTION
• Households sell
• Firms buy
1
The Circular Flow
Spending
Goods and
services
bought
HOUSEHOLDS
• Buy and consume
goods and services
• Own and sell factors
of production
FIRMS
• Produce and sell
goods and services
• Hire and use factors
of production
25
This diagram is a schematic
representation of the organization
of the economy. Decisions are
made by households and firms.
Households and firms interact in
the markets for goods and services
(where households are buyers and
firms are sellers) and in the markets
for the factors of production (where
firms are buyers and households
are sellers). The outer set of arrows
shows the flow of dollars, and
the inner set of arrows shows the
corresponding flow of inputs and
outputs.
Labor, land,
and capital
Income
Flow of inputs
and outputs
Flow of dollars
their labor, land, and capital to the firms in the markets for the factors of production. The firms then use these factors to produce goods and services, which
in turn are sold to households in the markets for goods and services. The outer
loop of the diagram represents the corresponding flow of dollars. The households
spend money to buy goods and services from the firms. The firms use some of the
revenue from these sales to pay for the factors of production, such as the wages
of their workers. What’s left is the profit of the firm owners, who themselves are
members of households.
Let’s take a tour of the circular flow by following a dollar bill as it makes its
way from person to person through the economy. Imagine that the dollar begins
at a household, say, in your wallet. If you want to buy a cup of coffee, you take
the dollar to one of the economy’s markets for goods and services, such as your
local Starbucks coffee shop. There, you spend it on your favorite drink. When the
dollar moves into the Starbucks cash register, it becomes revenue for the firm.
The dollar doesn’t stay at Starbucks for long, however, because the firm uses it to
buy inputs in the markets for the factors of production. Starbucks might use the
dollar to pay rent to its landlord for the space it occupies or to pay the wages of
its workers. In either case, the dollar enters the income of some household and,
once again, is back in someone’s wallet. At that point, the story of the economy’s
circular flow starts once again.
The circular-flow diagram in Figure 1 is a very simple model of the economy. It dispenses with details that, for some purposes, are significant. A more
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26
PART I
INTRODUCTION
complex and realistic circular-flow model would include, for instance, the roles
of government and international trade. (A portion of that dollar you gave to
Starbucks might be used to pay taxes or to buy coffee beans from a farmer in
Brazil.) Yet these details are not crucial for a basic understanding of how the
economy is organized. Because of its simplicity, this circular-flow diagram is
useful to keep in mind when thinking about how the pieces of the economy fit
together.
Our Second Model: The Production
Possibilities Frontier
production
possibilities frontier
a graph that shows the
combinations of output
that the economy can
possibly produce given
the available factors
of production and the
available production
technology
Figure
Most economic models, unlike the circular-flow diagram, are built using the tools
of mathematics. Here we use one of the simplest such models, called the production possibilities frontier, to illustrate some basic economic ideas.
Although real economies produce thousands of goods and services, let’s
assume an economy that produces only two goods—cars and computers.
Together, the car industry and the computer industry use all of the economy’s
factors of production. The production possibilities frontier is a graph that shows
the various combinations of output—in this case, cars and computers—that the
economy can possibly produce given the available factors of production and the
available production technology that firms use to turn these factors into output.
Figure 2 shows this economy’s production possibilities frontier. If the economy
uses all its resources in the car industry, it produces 1,000 cars and no computers.
If it uses all its resources in the computer industry, it produces 3,000 computers
and no cars. The two endpoints of the production possibilities frontier represent
these extreme possibilities.
More likely, the economy divides its resources between the two industries,
producing some cars and some computers. For example, it can produce 600 cars
2
The Production Possibilities Frontier
The production possibilities frontier
shows the combinations of output—in
this case, cars and computers—that the
economy can possibly produce. The
economy can produce any combination
on or inside the frontier. Points outside
the frontier are not feasible given the
economy’s resources.
Quantity of
Computers
Produced
3,000
F
C
A
2,200
2,000
B
Production
possibilities
frontier
D
1,000
E
0
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-002.indd 26
300
600 700
1,000
Quantity of
Cars Produced
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CHAPTER 2
THINKING LIKE AN ECONOMIST
27
and 2,200 computers, shown in the figure by point A. Or, by moving some of the
factors of production to the car industry from the computer industry, the economy
can produce 700 cars and 2,000 computers, represented by point B.
Because resources are scarce, not every conceivable outcome is feasible. For
example, no matter how resources are allocated between the two industries,
the economy cannot produce the amount of cars and computers represented by
point C. Given the technology available for manufacturing cars and computers,
the economy does not have enough of the factors of production to support that
level of output. With the resources it has, the economy can produce at any point
on or inside the production possibilities frontier, but it cannot produce at points
outside the frontier.
An outcome is said to be efficient if the economy is getting all it can from
the scarce resources it has available. Points on (rather than inside) the production possibilities frontier represent efficient levels of production. When the
economy is producing at such a point, say point A, there is no way to produce
more of one good without producing less of the other. Point D represents an
inefficient outcome. For some reason, perhaps widespread unemployment, the
economy is producing less than it could from the resources it has available:
It is producing only 300 cars and 1,000 computers. If the source of the inefficiency is eliminated, the economy can increase its production of both goods.
For example, if the economy moves from point D to point A, its production of
cars increases from 300 to 600, and its production of computers increases from
1,000 to 2,200.
One of the Ten Principles of Economics discussed in Chapter 1 is that people face
trade-offs. The production possibilities frontier shows one trade-off that society
faces. Once we have reached the efficient points on the frontier, the only way of
producing more of one good is to produce less of the other. When the economy
moves from point A to point B, for instance, society produces 100 more cars but
at the expense of producing 200 fewer computers.
This trade-off helps us understand another of the Ten Principles of Economics:
The cost of something is what you give up to get it. This is called the opportunity
cost. The production possibilities frontier shows the opportunity cost of one
good as measured in terms of the other good. When society moves from point
A to point B, it gives up 200 computers to get 100 additional cars. That is, at
point A, the opportunity cost of 100 cars is 200 computers. Put another way, the
opportunity cost of each car is two computers. Notice that the opportunity cost
of a car equals the slope of the production possibilities frontier. (If you don’t
recall what slope is, you can refresh your memory with the graphing appendix
to this chapter.)
The opportunity cost of a car in terms of the number of computers is not constant in this economy but depends on how many cars and computers the economy
is producing. This is reflected in the shape of the production possibilities frontier.
Because the production possibilities frontier in Figure 2 is bowed outward, the
opportunity cost of a car is highest when the economy is producing many cars and
few computers, such as at point E, where the frontier is steep. When the economy
is producing few cars and many computers, such as at point F, the frontier is
flatter, and the opportunity cost of a car is lower.
Economists believe that production possibilities frontiers often have this
bowed shape. When the economy is using most of its resources to make computers, such as at point F, the resources best suited to car production, such as skilled
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PART I
INTRODUCTION
autoworkers, are being used in the computer industry. Because these workers
probably aren’t very good at making computers, the economy won’t have to lose
much computer production to increase car production by one unit. The opportunity cost of a car in terms of computers is small, and the frontier is relatively flat.
By contrast, when the economy is using most of its resources to make cars, such as
at point E, the resources best suited to making cars are already in the car industry.
Producing an additional car means moving some of the best computer technicians out of the computer industry and making them autoworkers. As a result,
producing an additional car will mean a substantial loss of computer output. The
opportunity cost of a car is high, and the frontier is steep.
The production possibilities frontier shows the trade-off between the outputs of different goods at a given time, but the trade-off can change over time.
For example, suppose a technological advance in the computer industry raises
the number of computers that a worker can produce per week. This advance
expands society’s set of opportunities. For any given number of cars, the
economy can make more computers. If the economy does not produce any
computers, it can still produce 1,000 cars, so one endpoint of the frontier stays
the same. But the rest of the production possibilities frontier shifts outward,
as in Figure 3.
This figure illustrates economic growth. Society can move production from a
point on the old frontier to a point on the new frontier. Which point it chooses
depends on its preferences for the two goods. In this example, society moves from
point A to point G, enjoying more computers (2,300 instead of 2,200) and more
cars (650 instead of 600).
The production possibilities frontier simplifies a complex economy to highlight
some basic but powerful ideas: scarcity, efficiency, trade-offs, opportunity cost,
Figure
3
A Shift in the Production
Possibilities Frontier
A technological advance in the
computer industry enables the
economy to produce more computers
for any given number of cars. As a
result, the production possibilities
frontier shifts outward. If the economy
moves from point A to point G, then
the production of both cars and
computers increases.
Quantity of
Computers
Produced
4,000
3,000
2,300
2,200
0
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-002.indd 28
G
A
600 650
1,000
Quantity of
Cars Produced
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CHAPTER 2
THINKING LIKE AN ECONOMIST
29
and economic growth. As you study economics, these ideas will recur in various
forms. The production possibilities frontier offers one simple way of thinking
about them.
Microeconomics and Macroeconomics
Many subjects are studied on various levels. Consider biology, for example.
Molecular biologists study the chemical compounds that make up living things.
Cellular biologists study cells, which are made up of many chemical compounds
and, at the same time, are themselves the building blocks of living organisms.
Evolutionary biologists study the many varieties of animals and plants and how
species change gradually over the centuries.
Economics is also studied on various levels. We can study the decisions of individual households and firms. Or we can study the interaction of households and
firms in markets for specific goods and services. Or we can study the operation
of the economy as a whole, which is the sum of the activities of all these decision
makers in all these markets.
The field of economics is traditionally divided into two broad subfields. Microeconomics is the study of how households and firms make decisions and how
they interact in specific markets. Macroeconomics is the study of economywide
phenomena. A microeconomist might study the effects of rent control on housing
in New York City, the impact of foreign competition on the U.S. auto industry,
or the effects of compulsory school attendance on workers’ earnings. A macroeconomist might study the effects of borrowing by the federal government, the
changes over time in the economy’s rate of unemployment, or alternative policies
to promote growth in national living standards.
Microeconomics and macroeconomics are closely intertwined. Because
changes in the overall economy arise from the decisions of millions of individuals, it is impossible to understand macroeconomic developments without
considering the associated microeconomic decisions. For example, a macroeconomist might study the effect of a federal income tax cut on the overall production
of goods and services. But to analyze this issue, he or she must consider how the
tax cut affects the decisions of households about how much to spend on goods
and services.
Despite the inherent link between microeconomics and macroeconomics, the
two fields are distinct. Because they address different questions, each field has its
own set of models, which are often taught in separate courses.
microeconomics
the study of how
households and firms
make decisions and how
they interact in markets
macroeconomics
the study of economywide
phenomena, including
inflation, unemployment,
and economic growth
QUICK QUIZ In what sense is economics like a science? • Draw a production possibilities frontier for a society that produces food and clothing. Show an efficient point,
an inefficient point, and an infeasible point. Show the effects of a drought. • Define
microeconomics and macroeconomics.
The Economist as Policy Adviser
Often, economists are asked to explain the causes of economic events. Why, for
example, is unemployment higher for teenagers than for older workers? Sometimes, economists are asked to recommend policies to improve economic outcomes. What, for instance, should the government do to improve the economic
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PART I
INTRODUCTION
FYI
Who Studies Economics?
A
s a college student, you might be asking yourself: How many
economics classes should I take? How useful will this stuff be to
me later in life? Economics can seem abstract at first, but the field is
fundamentally very practical, and the study of economics is useful in
many different career paths. Here is a small sampling of some wellknown people who majored in economics when they were in college.
George H. W. Bush
Donald Trump
Meg Whitman
© BRAD BARKET/ EVERETT/PHOTOSHOT
Danny Glover
Barbara Boxer
John Elway
Kofi Annan
Ted Turner
Lionel Richie
Diane von Furstenberg
Michael Kinsley
Ben Stein
Cate Blanchett
Anthony Zinni
Steve Ballmer
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Former President of the United States
Business and
TV Mogul
Former Chief
Executive
Officer of eBay
Actor
U.S. Senator
Former NFL
Quarterback
Former
Secretary General,
When asked in 2005 why The Rolling
United Nations
Stones were going on tour again, former
Founder of CNN
economics major Mick Jagger replied,
Singer
“Supply and demand.” Keith Richards
added, “If the demand’s there, we’ll supply.”
Fashion Designer
Journalist
Political Speechwriter, Journalist,
and Actor
Actor
General (ret.), U.S. Marine Corps
Chief Executive Officer, Microsoft
Governor of California
Sandra Day-O’Connor
Scott Adams
Mick Jagger
Former
Supreme
Court Justice
Cartoonist for
Dilbert
Singer for the
Rolling Stones
Having studied at the London School of
Economics may not help Mick Jagger hit
the high notes, but it has probably given
him some insight about how to invest the
substantial sums he has earned during his
rock ’n’ roll career.
well-being of teenagers? When economists are trying to explain the world, they
are scientists. When they are trying to help improve it, they are policy advisers.
Positive versus Normative Analysis
To help clarify the two roles that economists play, let’s examine the use of language. Because scientists and policy advisers have different goals, they use language in different ways.
For example, suppose that two people are discussing minimum-wage laws.
Here are two statements you might hear:
Polly: Minimum-wage laws cause unemployment.
Norm: The government should raise the minimum wage.
Ignoring for now whether you agree with these statements, notice that Polly
and Norm differ in what they are trying to do. Polly is speaking like a scientist:
She is making a claim about how the world works. Norm is speaking like a policy adviser: He is making a claim about how he would like to change the world.
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CHAPTER 2
In general, statements about the world come in two types. One type, such as
Polly’s, is positive. Positive statements are descriptive. They make a claim about
how the world is. A second type of statement, such as Norm’s, is normative. Normative statements are prescriptive. They make a claim about how the world ought to be.
A key difference between positive and normative statements is how we judge
their validity. We can, in principle, confirm or refute positive statements by examining evidence. An economist might evaluate Polly’s statement by analyzing data
on changes in minimum wages and changes in unemployment over time. By
contrast, evaluating normative statements involves values as well as facts. Norm’s
statement cannot be judged using data alone. Deciding what is good or bad policy
is not just a matter of science. It also involves our views on ethics, religion, and
political philosophy.
Positive and normative statements are fundamentally different, but they are
often intertwined in a person’s set of beliefs. In particular, positive views about
how the world works affect normative views about what policies are desirable.
Polly’s claim that the minimum wage causes unemployment, if true, might lead
her to reject Norm’s conclusion that the government should raise the minimum
wage. Yet normative conclusions cannot come from positive analysis alone; they
involve value judgments as well.
As you study economics, keep in mind the distinction between positive and
normative statements because it will help you stay focused on the task at hand.
Much of economics is positive: It just tries to explain how the economy works. Yet
those who use economics often have normative goals: They want to learn how to
improve the economy. When you hear economists making normative statements,
you know they are speaking not as scientists but as policy advisers.
THINKING LIKE AN ECONOMIST
31
positive statements
claims that attempt to
describe the world as it is
normative
statements
claims that attempt to
prescribe how the world
should be
© JAMES STEVENSON. THE NEW YORKER
COLLECTION/ WWW.CARTOONBANK.COM
Economists in Washington
President Harry Truman once said that he wanted to find a one-armed economist.
When he asked his economists for advice, they always answered, “On the one
hand, . . . On the other hand, . . . “
Truman was right in realizing that economists’ advice is not always straightforward. This tendency is rooted in one of the Ten Principles of Economics: People
face trade-offs. Economists are aware that trade-offs are involved in most policy
decisions. A policy might increase efficiency at the cost of equality. It might help
future generations but hurt current generations. An economist who says that all
policy decisions are easy is an economist not to be trusted.
Truman was not the only president who relied on the advice of economists.
Since 1946, the president of the United States has received guidance from the
Council of Economic Advisers, which consists of three members and a staff of a
few dozen economists. The council, whose offices are just a few steps from the
White House, has no duty other than to advise the president and to write the
annual Economic Report of the President, which discusses recent developments in
the economy and presents the council’s analysis of current policy issues.
The president also receives input from economists in many administrative
departments. Economists at the Office of Management and Budget help formulate
spending plans and regulatory policies. Economists at the Department of the Treasury help design tax policy. Economists at the Department of Labor analyze data
on workers and those looking for work to help formulate labor-market policies.
Economists at the Department of Justice help enforce the nation’s antitrust laws.
Economists are also found outside the administrative branch of government.
To obtain independent evaluations of policy proposals, Congress relies on the
advice of the Congressional Budget Office, which is staffed by economists. The
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-002.indd 31
“Let’s switch. I’ll make
the policy, you implement
it, and he’ll explain it.”
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32
PART I
INTRODUCTION
in the news
The Economics of President Obama
Here is how Larry Summers, a chief economic adviser to Barack
Obama, describes the president’s policies.
A Vision for
Innovation, Growth,
and Quality Jobs
BY LAWRENCE H. SUMMERS
P
resident Obama laid out his vision for
innovation, growth, and quality jobs earlier
today at Hudson Valley Community College.
Ths President’s plan is grounded not only in the
American tradition of entrepreneurship, but also
in the traditions of robust economic thought.
During the past two years, the ideas
propounded by John Maynard Keynes have
assumed greater importance than most
people would have thought in the previous
generation. As Keynes famously observed,
during those rare times of deep financial
and economic crisis, when the “invisible
hand” Adam Smith talked about has temporarily ceased to function, there is a more
urgent need for government to play an
active role in restoring markets to their
healthy function.
The wisdom of Keynesian policies has
been confirmed by the performance of the economy over the past year. After the collapse of
Lehman Brothers last September, government
policy moved in a strongly activist direction.
As a result of those policies, our outlook
today has shifted from rescue to recovery,
from worrying about the very real prospect
of depression to thinking about what kind of
an expansion we want to have.
An important aspect of any economic
expansion is the role innovation plays as
Federal Reserve, the institution that sets the nation’s monetary policy, employs
hundreds of economists to analyze economic developments in the United States
and throughout the world.
The influence of economists on policy goes beyond their role as advisers: Their
research and writings often affect policy indirectly. Economist John Maynard
Keynes offered this observation:
The ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right
and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed, the world is ruled by little else. Practical men, who believe
themselves to be quite exempt from intellectual influences, are usually the
slaves of some defunct economist. Madmen in authority, who hear voices
in the air, are distilling their frenzy from some academic scribbler of a few
years back.
Although these words were written in 1935, they remain true. Indeed, the “academic scribbler” now influencing public policy is often Keynes himself.
Why Economists’ Advice Is Not Always Followed
Any economist who advises presidents or other elected leaders knows that his
or her recommendations are not always heeded. Frustrating as this can be, it
is easy to understand. The process by which economic policy is actually made
differs in many ways from the idealized policy process assumed in economics
textbooks.
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© CHIP SOMODEVILLA/GETTY IMAGES
CHAPTER 2
an engine of economic growth. In this
regard, the most important economist of
the twenty-first century might actually turn
out to be not Smith or Keynes, but Joseph
Schumpeter.
One of Schumpeter’s most important
contributions was the emphasis he placed
on the tremendous power of innovation and
entrepreneurial initiative to drive growth
through a process he famously characterized
as “creative destruction.” His work captured not only an economic truth, but also
the particular source of America’s strength
and dynamism.
One of the ways to view the trajectory
of economic history is through the key technologies that have reverberated across the
economy. In the nineteenth century, these
included the transcontinental railroad, the
telegraph, and the steam engine, among
others. In the twentieth, the most powerful
innovations included the automobile, the jet
plane, and, over the last generation, information technology.
While we can’t know exactly where the
next great area of American innovation will
be, we already see a number of prominent
sectors where American entrepreneurs are
unleashing explosive, innovative energy:
• In information technology, where tremendous potential remains for a range of
applications to increase for years to come;
• In life-science technologies, where developments made at the National Institutes
of Health and in research facilities around
the country will have profound implications not just for human health, but also
for the environment, agriculture, and a
range of other areas that require technological creativity; and,
• In energy, where the combination of environmental and geopolitical imperatives have
created the context for an enormously
THINKING LIKE AN ECONOMIST
33
productive period in developing energy
technologies as well.
Looking across the breadth of the U.S.
economy, the prospects for transformational
innovation to occur are enormous. But to ensure
that the entrepreneurial spirit that Schumpeter
recognized in the early twentieth century will
continue to drive the American economy in the
twenty-first century requires a role for government as well: to create an environment that is
conducive to generating those developments.
Source: The White House Blog, September 21, 2009. http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/A-Vision-for-Innovation-Growth-and-Quality-Jobs/
Throughout this text, whenever we discuss economic policy, we often focus on
one question: What is the best policy for the government to pursue? We act as if
policy were set by a benevolent king. Once the king figures out the right policy,
he has no trouble putting his ideas into action.
In the real world, figuring out the right policy is only part of a leader’s job,
sometimes the easiest part. After a president hears from his economic advisers
about what policy is best from their perspective, he turns to other advisers for
related input. His communications advisers will tell him how best to explain
the proposed policy to the public, and they will try to anticipate any misunderstandings that might make the challenge more difficult. His press advisers will
tell him how the news media will report on his proposal and what opinions
will likely be expressed on the nation’s editorial pages. His legislative affairs
advisers will tell him how Congress will view the proposal, what amendments
members of Congress will suggest, and the likelihood that Congress will pass
some version of the president’s proposal into law. His political advisers will tell
him which groups will organize to support or oppose the proposed policy, how
this proposal will affect his standing among different groups in the electorate,
and whether it will affect support for any of the president’s other policy initiatives. After hearing and weighing all this advice, the president then decides
how to proceed.
Making economic policy in a representative democracy is a messy affair—and
there are often good reasons presidents (and other politicians) do not advance the
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PART I
INTRODUCTION
policies that economists advocate. Economists offer crucial input into the policy
process, but their advice is only one ingredient of a complex recipe.
QUICK QUIZ Give an example of a positive statement and an example of a normative statement that somehow relates to your daily life. • Name three parts of government that regularly rely on advice from economists.
Why Economists Disagree
“If all economists were laid end to end, they would not reach a conclusion.” This
quip from George Bernard Shaw is revealing. Economists as a group are often
criticized for giving conflicting advice to policymakers. President Ronald Reagan
once joked that if the game Trivial Pursuit were designed for economists, it would
have 100 questions and 3,000 answers.
Why do economists so often appear to give conflicting advice to policymakers?
There are two basic reasons:
• Economists may disagree about the validity of alternative positive theories
about how the world works.
• Economists may have different values and therefore different normative
views about what policy should try to accomplish.
Let’s discuss each of these reasons.
Differences in Scientific Judgments
Several centuries ago, astronomers debated whether the earth or the sun was at the
center of the solar system. More recently, meteorologists have debated whether
the earth is experiencing global warming and, if so, why. Science is a search for
understanding about the world around us. It is not surprising that as the search
continues, scientists can disagree about the direction in which truth lies.
Economists often disagree for the same reason. Economics is a young science,
and there is still much to be learned. Economists sometimes disagree because they
have different hunches about the validity of alternative theories or about the size
of important parameters that measure how economic variables are related.
For example, economists disagree about whether the government should tax
a household’s income or its consumption (spending). Advocates of a switch
from the current income tax to a consumption tax believe that the change would
encourage households to save more because income that is saved would not be
taxed. Higher saving, in turn, would free resources for capital accumulation,
leading to more rapid growth in productivity and living standards. Advocates of
the current income tax system believe that household saving would not respond
much to a change in the tax laws. These two groups of economists hold different
normative views about the tax system because they have different positive views
about the responsiveness of saving to tax incentives.
Differences in Values
Suppose that Peter and Paula both take the same amount of water from the town
well. To pay for maintaining the well, the town taxes its residents. Peter has
income of $100,000 and is taxed $10,000, or 10 percent of his income. Paula has
income of $20,000 and is taxed $4,000, or 20 percent of her income.
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-002.indd 34
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CHAPTER 2
THINKING LIKE AN ECONOMIST
35
Is this policy fair? If not, who pays too much and who pays too little? Does it
matter whether Paula’s low income is due to a medical disability or to her decision to pursue an acting career? Does it matter whether Peter’s high income is
due to a large inheritance or to his willingness to work long hours at a dreary job?
These are difficult questions on which people are likely to disagree. If the town
hired two experts to study how the town should tax its residents to pay for the
well, we would not be surprised if they offered conflicting advice.
This simple example shows why economists sometimes disagree about public
policy. As we learned earlier in our discussion of normative and positive analysis,
policies cannot be judged on scientific grounds alone. Economists give conflicting
advice sometimes because they have different values. Perfecting the science of
economics will not tell us whether Peter or Paula pays too much.
Perception versus Reality
Because of differences in scientific judgments and differences in values, some
disagreement among economists is inevitable. Yet one should not overstate the
amount of disagreement. Economists agree with one another far more than is
sometimes understood.
Table 1 contains 20 propositions about economic policy. In surveys of professional economists, these propositions were endorsed by an overwhelming majority of respondents. Most of these propositions would fail to command a similar
consensus among the public.
The first proposition in the table is about rent control, a policy that sets a legal
maximum on the amount landlords can charge for their apartments. Almost all
economists believe that rent control adversely affects the availability and quality
of housing and is a costly way of helping the neediest members of society. Nonetheless, many city governments ignore the advice of economists and place ceilings
on the rents that landlords may charge their tenants.
The second proposition in the table concerns tariffs and import quotas, two policies that restrict trade among nations. For reasons we discuss more fully later in this
text, almost all economists oppose such barriers to free trade. Nonetheless, over the
years, presidents and Congress have chosen to restrict the import of certain goods.
Why do policies such as rent control and trade barriers persist if the experts are
united in their opposition? It may be that the realities of the political process stand
as immovable obstacles. But it also may be that economists have not yet convinced
enough of the public that these policies are undesirable. One purpose of this book
is to help you understand the economist’s view of these and other subjects and,
perhaps, to persuade you that it is the right one.
QUICK QUIZ
Why might economic advisers to the president disagree about a ques-
tion of policy?
Let’s Get Going
The first two chapters of this book have introduced you to the ideas and methods of economics. We are now ready to get to work. In the next chapter, we start
learning in more detail the principles of economic behavior and economic policy.
As you proceed through this book, you will be asked to draw on many of your
intellectual skills. You might find it helpful to keep in mind some advice from the
great economist John Maynard Keynes:
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-002.indd 35
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36
PART I
Table
INTRODUCTION
1
Propositions about
Which Most Economists
Agree
Proposition (and percentage of economists who agree)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
A ceiling on rents reduces the quantity and quality of housing available. (93%)
Tariffs and import quotas usually reduce general economic welfare. (93%)
Flexible and floating exchange rates offer an effective international monetary arrangement. (90%)
Fiscal policy (e.g., tax cut and/or government expenditure increase) has a significant stimulative
impact on a less than fully employed economy. (90%)
The United States should not restrict employers from outsourcing work to foreign countries. (90%)
Economic growth in developed countries like the United States leads to greater levels of wellbeing. (88%)
The United States should eliminate agricultural subsidies. (85%)
An appropriately designed fiscal policy can increase the long-run rate of capital formation. (85%)
Local and state governments should eliminate subsidies to professional sports franchises. (85%)
If the federal budget is to be balanced, it should be done over the business cycle rather than
yearly. (85%)
The gap between Social Security funds and expenditures will become unsustainably large within
the next 50 years if current policies remain unchanged. (85%)
Cash payments increase the welfare of recipients to a greater degree than do transfers-in-kind
of equal cash value. (84%)
A large federal budget deficit has an adverse effect on the economy. (83%)
The redistribution of income in the United State is a legitimate role for the government. (83%)
Inflation is caused primarily by too much growth in the money supply. (83%)
The United States should not ban genetically modified crops. (82%)
A minimum wage increases unemployment among young and unskilled workers. (79%)
The government should restructure the welfare system along the lines of a “negative income
tax.” (79%)
Effluent taxes and marketable pollution permits represent a better approach to pollution control
than imposition of pollution ceilings. (78%)
Government subsidies on ethanol in the United States should be reduced or eliminated. (78%)
Source: Richard M. Alston, J. R. Kearl, and Michael B. Vaughn, “Is There Consensus among Economists in the 1990s?”
American Economic Review (May 1992): 203–209; Dan Fuller and Doris Geide-Stevenson, “Consensus among Economists
Revisited,” Journal of Economics Education (Fall 2003): 369–387; Robert Whaples, “Do Economists Agree on Anything? Yes!”
Economists’ Voice (November 2006): 1–6; Robert Whaples, “The Policy Views of American Economic Association Members: The
Results of a New Survey, Econ Journal Watch (September 2009): 337–348.
The study of economics does not seem to require any specialized gifts of an
unusually high order. Is it not . . . a very easy subject compared with the higher
branches of philosophy or pure science? An easy subject, at which very few
excel! The paradox finds its explanation, perhaps, in that the master-economist
must possess a rare combination of gifts. He must be mathematician, historian,
statesman, philosopher—in some degree. He must understand symbols and
speak in words. He must contemplate the particular in terms of the general,
and touch abstract and concrete in the same flight of thought. He must study
the present in the light of the past for the purposes of the future. No part
of man’s nature or his institutions must lie entirely outside his regard. He
must be purposeful and disinterested in a simultaneous mood; as aloof and
incorruptible as an artist, yet sometimes as near the earth as a politician.
It is a tall order. But with practice, you will become more and more accustomed
to thinking like an economist.
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-002.indd 36
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CHAPTER 2
THINKING LIKE AN ECONOMIST
37
in the news
Environmental Economics
Some economists are helping to save the planet.
Green Groups See
Potent Tool in
Economics
BY JESSICA E. VASCELLARO
M
any economists dream of getting
high-paying jobs on Wall Street, at
prestigious think tanks and universities or
at powerful government agencies like the
Federal Reserve.
But a growing number are choosing
to use their skills not to track inflation or
interest rates but to rescue rivers and trees.
These are the “green economists,” more
formally known as environmental economists, who use economic arguments and
systems to persuade companies to clean
up pollution and to help conserve natural
areas.
Working at dozens of advocacy groups
and a myriad of state and federal environmental agencies, they are helping to
formulate the intellectual framework behind
approaches to protecting endangered species, reducing pollution and preventing climate change. They also are becoming a link
between left-leaning advocacy groups and
the public and private sectors.
“In the past, many advocacy groups
interpreted economics as how to make a
profit or maximize income,” says Lawrence
Goulder, a professor of environmental and
resource economics at Stanford University
in Stanford, Calif. “More economists are
realizing that it offers a framework for
resource allocation where resources are not
only labor and capital but natural resources
as well.”
Environmental economists are on
the payroll of government agencies (the
Environmental Protection Agency had
about 164 on staff in 2004, up 36%
from 1995) and groups like the Wilderness
Society, a Washington-based conservation
group, which has four of them to work
on projects such as assessing the economic impact of building off-road driving
trails. Environmental Defense, also based in
Washington, was one of the first environmental-advocacy groups to hire economists
and now has about eight, who do such
things as develop market incentives to
address environmental problems like climate
change and water shortages. . . .
“There used to be this idea that we
shouldn’t have to monetize the environment
because it is invaluable,” says Caroline
Alkire, who in 1991 joined the Wilderness
Society, an advocacy group in Washington,
D.C., as one of the group’s first economists.
“But if we are going to engage in debate on
the Hill about drilling in the Arctic we need
to be able to combat the financial arguments. We have to play that card or we are
going to lose.”
The field of environmental economics
began to take form in the 1960s when
academics started to apply the tools of
economics to the nascent green movement.
The discipline grew more popular through-
out the 1980s when the Environmental
Protection Agency adopted a system of tradable permits for phasing out leaded gasoline. It wasn’t until the 1990 amendment
to the Clean Air Act, however, that most
environmentalists started to take economics
seriously.
The amendment implemented a system
of tradable allowances for acid rain, a
program pushed by Environmental Defense.
Under the law, plants that can reduce their
emissions more cost-effectively may sell
their allowances to more heavy polluters.
Today, the program has exceeded its goal
of reducing the amount of acid rain to half
its 1980 level and is celebrated as evidence
that markets can help achieve environmental goals.
Its success has convinced its former
critics, who at the time contended that
environmental regulation was a matter of
ethics, not economics, and favored installing
expensive acid rain removal technology in
all power plants instead.
Greenpeace, the international environmental giant, was one of the leading opponents of the 1990 amendment. But Kert
Davies, research director for Greenpeace
USA, said its success and the lack of any
significant action on climate policy throughout [the] early 1990s brought the organization around to the concept. “We now
believe that [tradable permits] are the most
straightforward system of reducing emissions and creating the incentives necessary
for massive reductions.”
Source: The Wall Street Journal, August 23, 2005.
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-002.indd 37
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38
PART I
INTRODUCTION
SUMMAR Y
SUMMARY
• Economists try to address their subject with a
• A positive statement is an assertion about
scientist’s objectivity. Like all scientists, they
make appropriate assumptions and build simplified models to understand the world around
them. Two simple economic models are the
circular-flow diagram and the production possibilities frontier.
how the world is. A normative statement is
an assertion about how the world ought to be.
When economists make normative statements,
they are acting more as policy advisers than
scientists.
• Economists who advise policymakers offer con-
• The field of economics is divided into two
flicting advice either because of differences in
scientific judgments or because of differences
in values. At other times, economists are united
in the advice they offer, but policymakers may
choose to ignore it.
subfields: microeconomics and macroeconomics. Microeconomists study decision making
by households and firms and the interaction
among households and firms in the marketplace.
Macroeconomists study the forces and trends
that affect the economy as a whole.
KEY
K
EY CONCEPTS
circular-flow diagram, p. 24
production possibilities
frontier, p. 26
microeconomics, p. 29
macroeconomics, p. 29
positive statements, p. 31
normative statements, p. 31
QUEST IO
IONS
NS FOR
FO R REVIEW
R EVIEW
1. How is economics a science?
2. Why do economists make assumptions?
3. Should an economic model describe reality
exactly?
4. Name a way that your family interacts in the
factor market and a way that it interacts in the
product market.
5. Name one economic interaction that isn’t covered by the simplified circular-flow diagram.
6. Draw and explain a production possibilities
frontier for an economy that produces milk and
7.
8.
9.
10.
cookies. What happens to this frontier if disease
kills half of the economy’s cows?
Use a production possibilities frontier to
describe the idea of “efficiency.”
What are the two subfields into which economics is divided? Explain what each subfield
studies.
What is the difference between a positive and a
normative statement? Give an example of each.
Why do economists sometimes offer conflicting
advice to policymakers?
PROBLEMS AND APPLICATIONS
APPLICATIO NS
1. Draw a circular-flow diagram. Identify the
parts of the model that correspond to the flow
of goods and services and the flow of dollars
for each of the following activities.
a. Selena pays a storekeeper $1 for a quart of
milk.
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-002.indd 38
b. Stuart earns $4.50 per hour working at a fastfood restaurant.
c. Shanna spends $30 to get a haircut.
d. Sally earns $10,000 from her 10 percent
ownership of Acme Industrial.
09/12/10 8:04 PM
CHAPTER 2
2. Imagine a society that produces military goods
and consumer goods, which we’ll call “guns”
and “butter.”
a. Draw a production possibilities frontier for
guns and butter. Using the concept of opportunity cost, explain why it most likely has a
bowed-out shape.
b. Show a point that is impossible for the economy to achieve. Show a point that is feasible
but inefficient.
c. Imagine that the society has two political parties, called the Hawks (who want a
strong military) and the Doves (who want a
smaller military). Show a point on your production possibilities frontier that the Hawks
might choose and a point the Doves might
choose.
d. Imagine that an aggressive neighboring
country reduces the size of its military. As a
result, both the Hawks and the Doves reduce
their desired production of guns by the same
amount. Which party would get the bigger
“peace dividend,” measured by the increase
in butter production? Explain.
3. The first principle of economics discussed in
Chapter 1 is that people face trade-offs. Use
a production possibilities frontier to illustrate
society’s trade-off between two “goods”—a
clean environment and the quantity of industrial output. What do you suppose determines
the shape and position of the frontier? Show
what happens to the frontier if engineers
develop a new way of producing electricity
that emits fewer pollutants.
4. An economy consists of three workers: Larry,
Moe, and Curly. Each works ten hours a day
and can produce two services: mowing lawns
and washing cars. In an hour, Larry can either
mow one lawn or wash one car; Moe can either
mow one lawn or wash two cars; and Curly
can either mow two lawns or wash one car.
a. Calculate how much of each service is produced under the following circumstances,
which we label A, B, C, and D:
• All three spend all their time mowing
lawns. (A)
• All three spend all their time washing
cars. (B)
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-002.indd 39
THINKING LIKE AN ECONOMIST
39
• All three spend half their time on each
activity. (C)
• Larry spends half his time on each activity,
while Moe only washes cars and Curly
only mows lawns. (D)
b. Graph the production possibilities frontier
for this economy. Using your answers to
part (a), identify points A, B, C, and D on
your graph.
c. Explain why the production possibilities
frontier has the shape it does.
d. Are any of the allocations calculated in part
(a) inefficient? Explain.
5. Classify the following topics as relating to
microeconomics or macroeconomics.
a. a family’s decision about how much income
to save
b. the effect of government regulations on auto
emissions
c. the impact of higher national saving on economic growth
d. a firm’s decision about how many workers
to hire
e. the relationship between the inflation rate
and changes in the quantity of money
6. Classify each of the following statements as
positive or normative. Explain.
a. Society faces a short-run trade-off between
inflation and unemployment.
b. A reduction in the rate of money growth will
reduce the rate of inflation.
c. The Federal Reserve should reduce the rate
of money growth.
d. Society ought to require welfare recipients to
look for jobs.
e. Lower tax rates encourage more work and
more saving.
7. If you were president, would you be more
interested in your economic advisers’ positive
views or their normative views? Why?
For further information on topics in this chapter,
additional problems, applications, examples, online
quizzes, and more, please visit our website at
www.cengage.com/economics/mankiw.
09/12/10 8:04 PM
40
PART I
INTRODUCTION
Appendix
Graphing: A Brief Review
Many of the concepts that economists study can be expressed with numbers—the
price of bananas, the quantity of bananas sold, the cost of growing bananas, and
so on. Often, these economic variables are related to one another: When the price
of bananas rises, people buy fewer bananas. One way of expressing the relationships among variables is with graphs.
Graphs serve two purposes. First, when developing economic theories, graphs
offer a way to visually express ideas that might be less clear if described with
equations or words. Second, when analyzing economic data, graphs provide a
powerful way of finding and interpreting patterns. Whether we are working with
theory or with data, graphs provide a lens through which a recognizable forest
emerges from a multitude of trees.
Numerical information can be expressed graphically in many ways, just as
there are many ways to express a thought in words. A good writer chooses words
that will make an argument clear, a description pleasing, or a scene dramatic. An
effective economist chooses the type of graph that best suits the purpose at hand.
In this appendix, we discuss how economists use graphs to study the mathematical relationships among variables. We also discuss some of the pitfalls that
can arise in the use of graphical methods.
Graphs of a Single Variable
Three common graphs are shown in Figure A-1. The pie chart in panel (a) shows
how total income in the United States is divided among the sources of income,
including compensation of employees, corporate profits, and so on. A slice of the
Figure
A-1
Types of Graphs
The pie chart in panel (a) shows how U.S. national income in 2008 was derived from
various sources. The bar graph in panel (b) compares the 2008 average income in four
countries. The time-series graph in panel (c) shows the productivity of labor in U.S.
businesses from 1950 to 2000.
(b) Bar Graph
(a) Pie Chart
Income per
Person in 2008
Corporate
profits (11%)
Proprietors’
income (9%)
Interest
income (6%)
Compensation
of employees
(72%)
Rental
income (2%)
$50,000
Productivity
Index
United
Kingdom
($43,090)
40,000
30,000
20,000
10,000
0
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-002.indd 40
United
States
($46,720)
(c) Time-Series Graph
Mexico
($10,210)
India
($1,070)
115
95
75
55
35
1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000
09/12/10 8:04 PM
CHAPTER 2
THINKING LIKE AN ECONOMIST
41
pie represents each source’s share of the total. The bar graph in panel (b) compares
income for four countries. The height of each bar represents the average income
in each country. The time-series graph in panel (c) traces the rising productivity in
the U.S. business sector over time. The height of the line shows output per hour in
each year. You have probably seen similar graphs in newspapers and magazines.
Graphs of Two Variables: The Coordinate System
The three graphs in Figure A-1 are useful in showing how a variable changes
over time or across individuals, but they are limited in how much they can tell us.
These graphs display information only on a single variable. Economists are often
concerned with the relationships between variables. Thus, they need to display
two variables on a single graph. The coordinate system makes this possible.
Suppose you want to examine the relationship between study time and grade
point average. For each student in your class, you could record a pair of numbers:
hours per week spent studying and grade point average. These numbers could
then be placed in parentheses as an ordered pair and appear as a single point on the
graph. Albert E., for instance, is represented by the ordered pair (25 hours/week,
3.5 GPA), while his “what-me-worry?” classmate Alfred E. is represented by the
ordered pair (5 hours/week, 2.0 GPA).
We can graph these ordered pairs on a two-dimensional grid. The first number
in each ordered pair, called the x-coordinate, tells us the horizontal location of the
point. The second number, called the y-coordinate, tells us the vertical location
of the point. The point with both an x-coordinate and a y-coordinate of zero is
known as the origin. The two coordinates in the ordered pair tell us where the
point is located in relation to the origin: x units to the right of the origin and y
units above it.
Figure A-2 graphs grade point average against study time for Albert E., Alfred E.,
and their classmates. This type of graph is called a scatterplot because it plots
scattered points. Looking at this graph, we immediately notice that points farther
Figure
Grade
Point
Average
4.0
Using the Coordinate
System
3.5
Grade point average is
measured on the vertical
axis and study time on the
horizontal axis. Albert E.,
Alfred E., and their classmates
are represented by various
points. We can see from the
graph that students who
study more tend to get higher
grades.
Albert E.
(25, 3.5)
3.0
2.5
Alfred E.
(5, 2.0)
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5
0
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-002.indd 41
A-2
5
10
15
20
25
30
40 Study
Time
(hours per week)
35
09/12/10 8:04 PM
42
PART I
INTRODUCTION
to the right (indicating more study time) also tend to be higher (indicating a better
grade point average). Because study time and grade point average typically move
in the same direction, we say that these two variables have a positive correlation.
By contrast, if we were to graph party time and grades, we would likely find that
higher party time is associated with lower grades; because these variables typically move in opposite directions, we call this a negative correlation. In either case,
the coordinate system makes the correlation between the two variables easy to see.
Curves in the Coordinate System
Students who study more do tend to get higher grades, but other factors also influence a student’s grade. Previous preparation is an important factor, for instance,
as are talent, attention from teachers, even eating a good breakfast. A scatterplot
like Figure A-2 does not attempt to isolate the effect that studying has on grades
from the effects of other variables. Often, however, economists prefer looking at
how one variable affects another, holding everything else constant.
To see how this is done, let’s consider one of the most important graphs in economics: the demand curve. The demand curve traces out the effect of a good’s price
on the quantity of the good consumers want to buy. Before showing a demand
curve, however, consider Table A-1, which shows how the number of novels that
Emma buys depends on her income and on the price of novels. When novels are
cheap, Emma buys them in large quantities. As they become more expensive, she
instead borrows books from the library or chooses to go to the movies rather than
read. Similarly, at any given price, Emma buys more novels when she has a higher
income. That is, when her income increases, she spends part of the additional
income on novels and part on other goods.
We now have three variables—the price of novels, income, and the number
of novels purchased—which are more than we can represent in two dimensions.
To put the information from Table A-1 in graphical form, we need to hold one of
the three variables constant and trace out the relationship between the other two.
Because the demand curve represents the relationship between price and quantity
demanded, we hold Emma’s income constant and show how the number of novels she buys varies with the price of novels.
Suppose that Emma’s income is $30,000 per year. If we place the number of
novels Emma purchases on the x-axis and the price of novels on the y-axis, we
Table
A-1
Novels Purchased by Emma
This table shows the number
of novels Emma buys at various
incomes and prices. For any given
level of income, the data on
price and quantity demanded can
be graphed to produce Emma’s
demand curve for novels, as shown
in Figures A-3 and A-4.
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-002.indd 42
Price
$10
9
8
7
6
5
For
$20,000
Income:
For
$30,000
Income:
For
$40,000
Income:
2 novels
6
10
14
18
22
Demand curve, D3
5 novels
9
13
17
21
25
Demand curve, D1
8 novels
12
16
20
24
28
Demand curve, D2
09/12/10 8:04 PM
CHAPTER 2
THINKING LIKE AN ECONOMIST
43
can graphically represent the middle column of Table A-1. When the points that
represent these entries from the table—(5 novels, $10), (9 novels, $9), and so on—are
connected, they form a line. This line, pictured in Figure A-3, is known as Emma’s
demand curve for novels; it tells us how many novels Emma purchases at any
given price. The demand curve is downward sloping, indicating that a higher price
reduces the quantity of novels demanded. Because the quantity of novels demanded
and the price move in opposite directions, we say that the two variables are negatively related. (Conversely, when two variables move in the same direction, the curve
relating them is upward sloping, and we say the variables are positively related.)
Now suppose that Emma’s income rises to $40,000 per year. At any given price,
Emma will purchase more novels than she did at her previous level of income.
Just as earlier we drew Emma’s demand curve for novels using the entries from
the middle column of Table A-1, we now draw a new demand curve using the
entries from the right column of the table. This new demand curve (curve D2) is
pictured alongside the old one (curve D1) in Figure A-4; the new curve is a similar
line drawn farther to the right. We therefore say that Emma’s demand curve for
novels shifts to the right when her income increases. Likewise, if Emma’s income
were to fall to $20,000 per year, she would buy fewer novels at any given price
and her demand curve would shift to the left (to curve D3).
In economics, it is important to distinguish between movements along a curve
and shifts of a curve. As we can see from Figure A-3, if Emma earns $30,000 per
year and novels cost $8 apiece, she will purchase 13 novels per year. If the price of
novels falls to $7, Emma will increase her purchases of novels to 17 per year. The
demand curve, however, stays fixed in the same place. Emma still buys the same
Figure
Price of
Novels
$11
A-3
Demand Curve
The line D1 shows how
Emma’s purchases of novels
depend on the price of novels
when her income is held
constant. Because the price
and the quantity demanded
are negatively related,
the demand curve slopes
downward.
(5, $10)
10
(9, $9)
9
(13, $8)
8
(17, $7)
7
(21, $6)
6
5
(25, $5)
Demand, D1
4
3
2
1
0
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-002.indd 43
5
10
15
20
25
30
Quantity
of Novels
Purchased
09/12/10 8:04 PM
44
PART I
Figure
INTRODUCTION
A-4
Shifting Demand Curves
The location of Emma’s
demand curve for novels
depends on how much
income she earns. The more
she earns, the more novels
she will purchase at any given
price, and the farther to
the right her demand curve
will lie. Curve D1 represents
Emma’s original demand
curve when her income
is $30,000 per year. If her
income rises to $40,000 per
year, her demand curve shifts
to D2. If her income falls to
$20,000 per year, her demand
curve shifts to D3.
Price of
Novels
$11
10
(13, $8)
9
(16, $8)
8
When income increases, the
demand curve shifts to
the right.
(10, $8)
7
6
5
4
When income
decreases, the
demand curve
shifts to the left.
D3
(income =
$20,000)
3
D1
(income =
$30,000)
D2 (income =
$40,000)
2
1
0
5
10
13 15 16
20
25
30
Quantity
of Novels
Purchased
number of novels at each price, but as the price falls, she moves along her demand
curve from left to right. By contrast, if the price of novels remains fixed at $8 but
her income rises to $40,000, Emma increases her purchases of novels from 13 to 16
per year. Because Emma buys more novels at each price, her demand curve shifts
out, as shown in Figure A-4.
There is a simple way to tell when it is necessary to shift a curve: When a variable that is not named on either axis changes, the curve shifts. Income is on neither
the x-axis nor the y-axis of the graph, so when Emma’s income changes, her
demand curve must shift. The same is true for any change that affects Emma’s
purchasing habits besides a change in the price of novels. If, for instance, the
public library closes and Emma must buy all the books she wants to read, she
will demand more novels at each price, and her demand curve will shift to the
right. Or if the price of movies falls and Emma spends more time at the movies and less time reading, she will demand fewer novels at each price, and her
demand curve will shift to the left. By contrast, when a variable on an axis of
the graph changes, the curve does not shift. We read the change as a movement
along the curve.
Slope
One question we might want to ask about Emma is how much her purchasing
habits respond to price. Look at the demand curve pictured in Figure A-5. If this
curve is very steep, Emma purchases nearly the same number of novels regardless
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CHAPTER 2
THINKING LIKE AN ECONOMIST
Figure
Price of
Novels
$11
45
A-5
Calculating the Slope
of a Line
To calculate the slope of the
demand curve, we can look
at the changes in the x- and
y-coordinates as we move
from the point (21 novels,
$6) to the point (13 novels,
$8). The slope of the line is
the ratio of the change in
the y-coordinate (−2) to the
change in the x-coordinate
(+8), which equals −1⁄4
10
9
(13, $8)
8
7
6 8 2
6
21 13 8
(21, $6)
5
Demand, D1
4
3
2
1
0
5
10
13 15
20 21
25
30
Quantity
of Novels
Purchased
of whether they are cheap or expensive. If this curve is much flatter, the number
of novels Emma purchases is more sensitive to changes in the price. To answer
questions about how much one variable responds to changes in another variable,
we can use the concept of slope.
The slope of a line is the ratio of the vertical distance covered to the horizontal
distance covered as we move along the line. This definition is usually written out
in mathematical symbols as follows:
slope =
Δy
Δx
,
where the Greek letter Δ (delta) stands for the change in a variable. In other words,
the slope of a line is equal to the “rise” (change in y) divided by the “run” (change
in x). The slope will be a small positive number for a fairly flat upward-sloping
line, a large positive number for a steep upward-sloping line, and a negative number for a downward-sloping line. A horizontal line has a slope of zero because in
this case the y-variable never changes; a vertical line is said to have an infinite
slope because the y-variable can take any value without the x-variable changing
at all.
What is the slope of Emma’s demand curve for novels? First of all, because the
curve slopes down, we know the slope will be negative. To calculate a numerical
value for the slope, we must choose two points on the line. With Emma’s income
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46
PART I
INTRODUCTION
at $30,000, she will purchase 21 novels at a price of $6 or 13 novels at a price of
$8. When we apply the slope formula, we are concerned with the change between
these two points; in other words, we are concerned with the difference between
them, which lets us know that we will have to subtract one set of values from the
other, as follows:
slope =
Δy
Δx
first y-coordinate – second y-coordinate
first x-coordinate – second x-coordinate
68
21 13
2
8
1
4
Figure A-5 shows graphically how this calculation works. Try computing the
slope of Emma’s demand curve using two different points. You should get exactly
the same result, 1⁄4. One of the properties of a straight line is that it has the same
slope everywhere. This is not true of other types of curves, which are steeper in
some places than in others.
The slope of Emma’s demand curve tells us something about how responsive
her purchases are to changes in the price. A small slope (a number close to zero)
means that Emma’s demand curve is relatively flat; in this case, she adjusts the
number of novels she buys substantially in response to a price change. A larger
slope (a number farther from zero) means that Emma’s demand curve is relatively
steep; in this case, she adjusts the number of novels she buys only slightly in
response to a price change.
Cause and Effect
COURTESY OF RANDALL MUNROE/XKCD.COM
Economists often use graphs to advance an argument about how the economy
works. In other words, they use graphs to argue about how one set of events
causes another set of events. With a graph like the demand curve, there is no
doubt about cause and effect. Because we are varying price and holding all other
variables constant, we know that changes in the price of novels cause changes in
the quantity Emma demands. Remember, however, that our demand curve came
from a hypothetical example. When graphing data from the real world, it is often
more difficult to establish how one variable affects another.
The first problem is that it is difficult to hold everything else constant when
studying the relationship between two variables. If we are not able to hold other
variables constant, we might decide that one variable on our graph is causing
changes in the other variable when actually those changes are caused by a third
omitted variable not pictured on the graph. Even if we have identified the correct
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CHAPTER 2
THINKING LIKE AN ECONOMIST
Figure
Risk of
Cancer
0
47
A-6
Graph with an Omitted Variable
Number of Lighters in House
The upward-sloping curve shows
that members of households
with more cigarette lighters are
more likely to develop cancer.
Yet we should not conclude that
ownership of lighters causes
cancer because the graph does not
take into account the number of
cigarettes smoked.
two variables to look at, we might run into a second problem—reverse causality.
In other words, we might decide that A causes B when in fact B causes A. The
omitted-variable and reverse-causality traps require us to proceed with caution
when using graphs to draw conclusions about causes and effects.
Omitted Variables To see how omitting a variable can lead to a deceptive
graph, let’s consider an example. Imagine that the government, spurred by
public concern about the large number of deaths from cancer, commissions
an exhaustive study from Big Brother Statistical Services, Inc. Big Brother
examines many of the items found in people’s homes to see which of them
are associated with the risk of cancer. Big Brother reports a strong relationship between two variables: the number of cigarette lighters that a household
owns and the probability that someone in the household will develop cancer.
Figure A-6 shows this relationship.
What should we make of this result? Big Brother advises a quick policy
response. It recommends that the government discourage the ownership of
cigarette lighters by taxing their sale. It also recommends that the government
require warning labels: “Big Brother has determined that this lighter is dangerous to your health.”
In judging the validity of Big Brother’s analysis, one question is paramount:
Has Big Brother held constant every relevant variable except the one under
consideration? If the answer is no, the results are suspect. An easy explanation
for Figure A-6 is that people who own more cigarette lighters are more likely to
smoke cigarettes and that cigarettes, not lighters, cause cancer. If Figure A-6 does
not hold constant the amount of smoking, it does not tell us the true effect of owning a cigarette lighter.
This story illustrates an important principle: When you see a graph used to
support an argument about cause and effect, it is important to ask whether the
movements of an omitted variable could explain the results you see.
Reverse Causality Economists can also make mistakes about causality by
misreading its direction. To see how this is possible, suppose the Association of
American Anarchists commissions a study of crime in America and arrives at
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48
PART I
Figure
INTRODUCTION
A-7
Graph Suggesting Reverse
Causality
The upward-sloping curve
shows that cities with a higher
concentration of police are more
dangerous. Yet the graph does
not tell us whether police cause
crime or crime-plagued cities hire
more police.
Violent
Crimes
(per 1,000
people)
0
Police Officers
(per 1,000 people)
Figure A-7, which plots the number of violent crimes per thousand people in
major cities against the number of police officers per thousand people. The anarchists note the curve’s upward slope and argue that because police increase rather
than decrease the amount of urban violence, law enforcement should be abolished.
If we could run a controlled experiment, we would avoid the danger of reverse
causality. To run an experiment, we would set the number of police officers in different cities randomly and then examine the correlation between police and crime.
Figure A-7, however, is not based on such an experiment. We simply observe that
more dangerous cities have more police officers. The explanation for this may be
that more dangerous cities hire more police. In other words, rather than police
causing crime, crime may cause police. Nothing in the graph itself allows us to
establish the direction of causality.
It might seem that an easy way to determine the direction of causality is to
examine which variable moves first. If we see crime increase and then the police
force expand, we reach one conclusion. If we see the police force expand and then
crime increase, we reach the other. Yet there is also a flaw with this approach:
Often, people change their behavior not in response to a change in their present
conditions but in response to a change in their expectations of future conditions. A
city that expects a major crime wave in the future, for instance, might hire more
police now. This problem is even easier to see in the case of babies and minivans.
Couples often buy a minivan in anticipation of the birth of a child. The minivan
comes before the baby, but we wouldn’t want to conclude that the sale of minivans causes the population to grow!
There is no complete set of rules that says when it is appropriate to draw causal
conclusions from graphs. Yet just keeping in mind that cigarette lighters don’t
cause cancer (omitted variable) and minivans don’t cause larger families (reverse
causality) will keep you from falling for many faulty economic arguments.
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Interdependence and
the Gains from Trade
3
C
onsider your typical day. You wake up in the morning and pour yourself juice from oranges grown in Florida and coffee from beans grown in
Brazil. Over breakfast, you watch a news program broadcast from New
York on your television made in China. You get dressed in clothes made
of cotton grown in Georgia and sewn in factories in Thailand. You drive to class
in a car made of parts manufactured in more than a dozen countries around the
world. Then you open up your economics textbook written by an author living
in Massachusetts, published by a company located in Ohio, and printed on paper
made from trees grown in Oregon.
Every day, you rely on many people, most of whom you have never met, to
provide you with the goods and services that you enjoy. Such interdependence
is possible because people trade with one another. Those people providing you
goods and services are not acting out of generosity. Nor is some government
agency directing them to satisfy your desires. Instead, people provide you and
49
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PART I
INTRODUCTION
other consumers with the goods and services they produce because they get
something in return.
In subsequent chapters, we examine how our economy coordinates the activities of millions of people with varying tastes and abilities. As a starting point for
this analysis, here we consider the reasons for economic interdependence. One
of the Ten Principles of Economics highlighted in Chapter 1 is that trade can make
everyone better off. In this chapter, we examine this principle more closely. What
exactly do people gain when they trade with one another? Why do people choose
to become interdependent?
The answers to these questions are key to understanding the modern global
economy. In most countries today, many goods and services consumed are
imported from abroad, and many goods and services produced are exported to
foreign customers. The analysis in this chapter explains interdependence not only
among individuals but also among nations. As we will see, the gains from trade
are much the same whether you are buying a haircut from your local barber or a
T-shirt made by a worker on the other side of the globe.
A Parable for the Modern Economy
To understand why people choose to depend on others for goods and services and
how this choice improves their lives, let’s look at a simple economy. Imagine that
there are two goods in the world: meat and potatoes. And there are two people
in the world—a cattle rancher and a potato farmer—each of whom would like to
eat both meat and potatoes.
The gains from trade are most obvious if the rancher can produce only meat
and the farmer can produce only potatoes. In one scenario, the rancher and the
farmer could choose to have nothing to do with each other. But after several
months of eating beef roasted, boiled, broiled, and grilled, the rancher might
decide that self-sufficiency is not all it’s cracked up to be. The farmer, who has
been eating potatoes mashed, fried, baked, and scalloped, would likely agree. It is
easy to see that trade would allow them to enjoy greater variety: Each could then
have a steak with a baked potato or a burger with fries.
Although this scene illustrates most simply how everyone can benefit from
trade, the gains would be similar if the rancher and the farmer were each capable
of producing the other good, but only at great cost. Suppose, for example, that the
potato farmer is able to raise cattle and produce meat, but that he is not very good
at it. Similarly, suppose that the cattle rancher is able to grow potatoes but that her
land is not very well suited for it. In this case, the farmer and the rancher can each
benefit by specializing in what he or she does best and then trading with the other.
The gains from trade are less obvious, however, when one person is better at
producing every good. For example, suppose that the rancher is better at raising
cattle and better at growing potatoes than the farmer. In this case, should the
rancher choose to remain self-sufficient? Or is there still reason for her to trade
with the farmer? To answer this question, we need to look more closely at the factors that affect such a decision.
Production Possibilities
Suppose that the farmer and the rancher each work 8 hours per day and can
devote this time to growing potatoes, raising cattle, or a combination of the two.
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CHAPTER 3
INTERDEPENDENCE AND THE GAINS FROM TRADE
51
The table in Figure 1 shows the amount of time each person requires to produce
1 ounce of each good. The farmer can produce an ounce of potatoes in 15 minutes
and an ounce of meat in 60 minutes. The rancher, who is more productive in both
activities, can produce an ounce of potatoes in 10 minutes and an ounce of meat
in 20 minutes. The last two columns in the table show the amounts of meat or
potatoes the farmer and rancher can produce if they work an 8-hour day producing only that good.
Panel (b) of Figure 1 illustrates the amounts of meat and potatoes that the
farmer can produce. If the farmer devotes all 8 hours of his time to potatoes, he
produces 32 ounces of potatoes (measured on the horizontal axis) and no meat. If
he devotes all his time to meat, he produces 8 ounces of meat (measured on the
vertical axis) and no potatoes. If the farmer divides his time equally between the
two activities, spending 4 hours on each, he produces 16 ounces of potatoes and
4 ounces of meat. The figure shows these three possible outcomes and all others
in between.
Panel (a) shows the production opportunities available to the farmer and the rancher.
Panel (b) shows the combinations of meat and potatoes that the farmer can produce.
Panel (c) shows the combinations of meat and potatoes that the rancher can produce.
Both production possibilities frontiers are derived assuming that the farmer and rancher
each work 8 hours per day. If there is no trade, each person’s production possibilities
frontier is also his or her consumption possibilities frontier.
Figure
1
The Production
Possibilities Frontier
(a) Production Opportunities
Minutes Needed to
Make 1 Ounce of:
Amount
Produced in 8 Hours
Meat
Potatoes
Meat
Potatoes
Farmer
60 min/oz
15 min/oz
8 oz
32 oz
Rancher
20 min/oz
10 min/oz
24 oz
48 oz
(c) The Rancher’s Production Possibilities Frontier
(b) The Farmer’s Production Possibilities Frontier
Meat (ounces)
Meat (ounces)
24
If there is no
trade, the farmer
chooses this
production and
consumption.
8
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-003.indd 51
B
12
A
4
0
If there is no
trade, the rancher
chooses this
production and
consumption.
16
32
Potatoes (ounces)
0
24
48
Potatoes (ounces)
09/12/10 8:05 PM
52
PART I
INTRODUCTION
This graph is the farmer’s production possibilities frontier. As we discussed in
Chapter 2, a production possibilities frontier shows the various mixes of output
that an economy can produce. It illustrates one of the Ten Principles of Economics
in Chapter 1: People face trade-offs. Here the farmer faces a trade-off between
producing meat and producing potatoes.
You may recall that the production possibilities frontier in Chapter 2 was
drawn bowed out. In that case, the rate at which society could trade one good for
the other depended on the amounts that were being produced. Here, however, the
farmer’s technology for producing meat and potatoes (as summarized in Figure 1)
allows him to switch between the two goods at a constant rate. Whenever the
farmer spends 1 hour less producing meat and 1 hour more producing potatoes,
he reduces his output of meat by 1 ounce and raises his output of potatoes by
4 ounces—and this is true regardless of how much he is already producing. As a
result, the production possibilities frontier is a straight line.
Panel (c) of Figure 1 shows the production possibilities frontier for the rancher.
If the rancher devotes all 8 hours of her time to potatoes, she produces 48 ounces of
potatoes and no meat. If she devotes all her time to meat, she produces 24 ounces
of meat and no potatoes. If the rancher divides her time equally, spending 4 hours
on each activity, she produces 24 ounces of potatoes and 12 ounces of meat. Once
again, the production possibilities frontier shows all the possible outcomes.
If the farmer and rancher choose to be self-sufficient rather than trade with
each other, then each consumes exactly what he or she produces. In this case, the
production possibilities frontier is also the consumption possibilities frontier. That
is, without trade, Figure 1 shows the possible combinations of meat and potatoes
that the farmer and rancher can each produce and then consume.
These production possibilities frontiers are useful in showing the trade-offs
that the farmer and rancher face, but they do not tell us what the farmer and
rancher will actually choose to do. To determine their choices, we need to know
the tastes of the farmer and the rancher. Let’s suppose they choose the combinations identified by points A and B in Figure 1: The farmer produces and consumes
16 ounces of potatoes and 4 ounces of meat, while the rancher produces and consumes 24 ounces of potatoes and 12 ounces of meat.
Specialization and Trade
After several years of eating combination B, the rancher gets an idea and goes to
talk to the farmer:
Rancher: Farmer, my friend, have I got a deal for you! I know how to improve
life for both of us. I think you should stop producing meat altogether and devote all your time to growing potatoes. According to
my calculations, if you work 8 hours a day growing potatoes, you’ll
produce 32 ounces of potatoes. If you give me 15 of those 32 ounces,
I’ll give you 5 ounces of meat in return. In the end, you’ll get to eat
17 ounces of potatoes and 5 ounces of meat every day, instead of the
16 ounces of potatoes and 4 ounces of meat you now get. If you go
along with my plan, you’ll have more of both foods. [To illustrate her
point, the rancher shows the farmer panel (a) of Figure 2.]
Farmer: (sounding skeptical) That seems like a good deal for me. But I don’t
understand why you are offering it. If the deal is so good for me, it
can’t be good for you too.
Rancher: Oh, but it is! Suppose I spend 6 hours a day raising cattle and
2 hours growing potatoes. Then I can produce 18 ounces of meat
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CHAPTER 3
INTERDEPENDENCE AND THE GAINS FROM TRADE
Figure
The proposed trade between the farmer and the rancher offers each of them a
combination of meat and potatoes that would be impossible in the absence of trade.
In panel (a), the farmer gets to consume at point A* rather than point A. In panel (b),
the rancher gets to consume at point B* rather than point B. Trade allows each to
consume more meat and more potatoes.
2
How Trade Expands
the Set of Consumption
Opportunities
(b) The Rancher’s Production and Consumption
(a) The Farmer’s Production and Consumption
Meat (ounces)
Meat (ounces)
24
Rancher's
production
with trade
Rancher's
consumption
with trade
18
8
53
Farmer's
consumption
with trade
A*
5
4
Farmer's
production and
consumption
without trade
16
B*
B
12
Rancher's
production and
consumption
without trade
Farmer's
production
with trade
A
0
13
0
32
Potatoes (ounces)
17
12
24 27
48
Potatoes (ounces)
(c) The Gains from Trade: A Summary
Farmer
Without Trade:
Production and Consumption
With Trade:
Production
Trade
Consumption
GAINS FROM TRADE:
Increase in Consumption
Rancher
Meat
Potatoes
Meat
Potatoes
4 oz
16 oz
12 oz
24 oz
0 oz
Gets 5 oz
5 oz
32 oz
Gives 15 oz
17 oz
18 oz
Gives 5 oz
13 oz
12 oz
Gets 15 oz
27 oz
+1 oz
+1 oz
+1 oz
+3 oz
and 12 ounces of potatoes. After I give you 5 ounces of my meat in
exchange for 15 ounces of your potatoes, I’ll end up with 13 ounces of
meat and 27 ounces of potatoes, instead of the 12 ounces of meat and
24 ounces of potatoes that I now get. So I will also consume more of
both foods than I do now. [She points out panel (b) of Figure 2.]
Farmer: I don’t know. . . . This sounds too good to be true.
Rancher: It’s really not as complicated as it first seems. Here—I’ve summarized my proposal for you in a simple table. [The rancher shows the
farmer a copy of the table at the bottom of Figure 2.]
Farmer: (after pausing to study the table) These calculations seem correct, but
I am puzzled. How can this deal make us both better off?
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PART I
INTRODUCTION
Rancher: We can both benefit because trade allows each of us to specialize in
doing what we do best. You will spend more time growing potatoes
and less time raising cattle. I will spend more time raising cattle and
less time growing potatoes. As a result of specialization and trade,
each of us can consume more meat and more potatoes without working any more hours.
QUICK QUIZ Draw an example of a production possibilities frontier for Robinson
Crusoe, a shipwrecked sailor who spends his time gathering coconuts and catching
fish. Does this frontier limit Crusoe’s consumption of coconuts and fish if he lives by
himself? Does he face the same limits if he can trade with natives on the island?
Comparative Advantage: The Driving Force of Specialization
The rancher’s explanation of the gains from trade, though correct, poses a puzzle:
If the rancher is better at both raising cattle and growing potatoes, how can the
farmer ever specialize in doing what he does best? The farmer doesn’t seem to do
anything best. To solve this puzzle, we need to look at the principle of comparative
advantage.
As a first step in developing this principle, consider the following question:
In our example, who can produce potatoes at a lower cost—the farmer or the
rancher? There are two possible answers, and in these two answers lie the solution
to our puzzle and the key to understanding the gains from trade.
Absolute Advantage
absolute advantage
the ability to produce a
good using fewer inputs
than another producer
One way to answer the question about the cost of producing potatoes is to compare the inputs required by the two producers. Economists use the term absolute
advantage when comparing the productivity of one person, firm, or nation to that
of another. The producer that requires a smaller quantity of inputs to produce a
good is said to have an absolute advantage in producing that good.
In our example, time is the only input, so we can determine absolute advantage by looking at how much time each type of production takes. The rancher
has an absolute advantage both in producing meat and in producing potatoes
because she requires less time than the farmer to produce a unit of either good.
The rancher needs to input only 20 minutes to produce an ounce of meat, whereas
the farmer needs 60 minutes. Similarly, the rancher needs only 10 minutes to produce an ounce of potatoes, whereas the farmer needs 15 minutes. Based on this
information, we can conclude that the rancher has the lower cost of producing
potatoes, if we measure cost by the quantity of inputs.
Opportunity Cost and Comparative Advantage
opportunity cost
whatever must be given
up to obtain some item
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-003.indd 54
There is another way to look at the cost of producing potatoes. Rather than
comparing inputs required, we can compare the opportunity costs. Recall from
Chapter 1 that the opportunity cost of some item is what we give up to get that
item. In our example, we assumed that the farmer and the rancher each spend
8 hours a day working. Time spent producing potatoes, therefore, takes away
from time available for producing meat. When reallocating time between the two
goods, the rancher and farmer give up units of one good to produce units of the
other, thereby moving along the production possibilities frontier. The opportunity
cost measures the trade-off between the two goods that each producer faces.
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CHAPTER 3
INTERDEPENDENCE AND THE GAINS FROM TRADE
Table
Opportunity Cost of:
1 oz of Meat
Farmer
Rancher
1 oz of Potatoes
4 oz potatoes
2 oz potatoes
1/
4
1/
2
The Opportunity Cost
of Meat and Potatoes
55
1
oz meat
oz meat
Let’s first consider the rancher’s opportunity cost. According to the table in
panel (a) of Figure 1, producing 1 ounce of potatoes takes 10 minutes of work.
When the rancher spends those 10 minutes producing potatoes, she spends
10 minutes less producing meat. Because the rancher needs 20 minutes to produce
1 ounce of meat, 10 minutes of work would yield ½ ounce of meat. Hence, the
rancher’s opportunity cost of producing 1 ounce of potatoes is ½ ounce of meat.
Now consider the farmer’s opportunity cost. Producing 1 ounce of potatoes
takes him 15 minutes. Because he needs 60 minutes to produce 1 ounce of meat,
15 minutes of work would yield ¼ ounce of meat. Hence, the farmer’s opportunity
cost of 1 ounce of potatoes is ¼ ounce of meat.
Table 1 shows the opportunity costs of meat and potatoes for the two producers.
Notice that the opportunity cost of meat is the inverse of the opportunity cost of potatoes. Because 1 ounce of potatoes costs the rancher ½ ounce of meat, 1 ounce of meat
costs the rancher 2 ounces of potatoes. Similarly, because 1 ounce of potatoes costs
the farmer ¼ ounce of meat, 1 ounce of meat costs the farmer 4 ounces of potatoes.
Economists use the term comparative advantage when describing the opportunity cost of two producers. The producer who gives up less of other goods to
produce Good X has the smaller opportunity cost of producing Good X and is
said to have a comparative advantage in producing it. In our example, the farmer
has a lower opportunity cost of producing potatoes than the rancher: An ounce of
potatoes costs the farmer only ¼ ounce of meat, but it costs the rancher ½ ounce of
meat. Conversely, the rancher has a lower opportunity cost of producing meat than
the farmer: An ounce of meat costs the rancher 2 ounces of potatoes, but it costs
the farmer 4 ounces of potatoes. Thus, the farmer has a comparative advantage in
growing potatoes, and the rancher has a comparative advantage in producing meat.
Although it is possible for one person to have an absolute advantage in both
goods (as the rancher does in our example), it is impossible for one person to
have a comparative advantage in both goods. Because the opportunity cost of one
good is the inverse of the opportunity cost of the other, if a person’s opportunity
cost of one good is relatively high, the opportunity cost of the other good must
be relatively low. Comparative advantage reflects the relative opportunity cost.
Unless two people have exactly the same opportunity cost, one person will have a
comparative advantage in one good, and the other person will have a comparative
advantage in the other good.
comparative
advantage
the ability to produce
a good at a lower
opportunity cost than
another producer
Comparative Advantage and Trade
The gains from specialization and trade are based not on absolute advantage but on
comparative advantage. When each person specializes in producing the good for
which he or she has a comparative advantage, total production in the economy rises.
This increase in the size of the economic pie can be used to make everyone better off.
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PART I
INTRODUCTION
In our example, the farmer spends more time growing potatoes, and the rancher
spends more time producing meat. As a result, the total production of potatoes
rises from 40 to 44 ounces, and the total production of meat rises from 16 to
18 ounces. The farmer and rancher share the benefits of this increased production.
We can also look at the gains from trade in terms of the price that each party
pays the other. Because the farmer and rancher have different opportunity costs,
they can both get a bargain. That is, each benefits from trade by obtaining a good
at a price that is lower than his or her opportunity cost of that good.
Consider the proposed deal from the viewpoint of the farmer. The farmer gets
5 ounces of meat in exchange for 15 ounces of potatoes. In other words, the farmer
buys each ounce of meat for a price of 3 ounces of potatoes. This price of meat is
lower than his opportunity cost for an ounce of meat, which is 4 ounces of potatoes.
Thus, the farmer benefits from the deal because he gets to buy meat at a good price.
Now consider the deal from the rancher’s viewpoint. The rancher buys
15 ounces of potatoes for a price of 5 ounces of meat. That is, the price of potatoes
is 1∕3 ounce of meat. This price of potatoes is lower than her opportunity cost of
an ounce of potatoes, which is ½ ounce of meat. The rancher benefits because she
gets to buy potatoes at a good price.
The moral of the story of the farmer and the rancher should now be clear: Trade
can benefit everyone in society because it allows people to specialize in activities in which
they have a comparative advantage.
The Price of the Trade
The principle of comparative advantage establishes that there are gains from specialization and trade, but it leaves open a couple of related questions: What determines the price at which trade takes place? How are the gains from trade shared
between the trading parties? The precise answer to these questions is beyond the
scope of this chapter, but we can state one general rule: For both parties to gain from
trade, the price at which they trade must lie between the two opportunity costs.
In our example, the farmer and rancher agreed to trade at a rate of 3 ounces of
potatoes for each ounce of meat. This price is between the rancher’s opportunity
cost (2 ounces of potatoes per ounce of meat) and the farmer’s opportunity cost
(4 ounces of potatoes per ounce of meat). The price need not be exactly in the
middle for both parties to gain, but it must be somewhere between 2 and 4.
To see why the price has to be in this range, consider what would happen if it
were not. If the price of meat were below 2 ounces of potatoes, both the farmer
and the rancher would want to buy meat, because the price would be below their
opportunity costs. Similarly, if the price of meat were above 4 ounces of potatoes,
both would want to sell meat, because the price would be above their opportunity
costs. But there are only two members of this economy. They cannot both be buyers
of meat, nor can they both be sellers. Someone has to take the other side of the deal.
A mutually advantageous trade can be struck at a price between 2 and 4. In this
price range, the rancher wants to sell meat to buy potatoes, and the farmer wants
to sell potatoes to buy meat. Each party can buy a good at a price that is lower
than his or her opportunity cost. In the end, both of them specialize in the good
for which he or she has a comparative advantage and are, as a result, better off.
QUICK QUIZ Robinson Crusoe can gather 10 coconuts or catch 1 fish per hour. His
friend Friday can gather 30 coconuts or catch 2 fish per hour. What is Crusoe’s opportunity cost of catching one fish? What is Friday’s? Who has an absolute advantage in
catching fish? Who has a comparative advantage in catching fish?
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INTERDEPENDENCE AND THE GAINS FROM TRADE
57
FYI
The Legacy of Adam Smith
and David Ricardo
E
book Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Ricardo developed the principle of comparative advantage as we know it today.
He considered an example with two goods (wine and cloth) and two
It is a maxim of every prudent master of a family, never
countries (England and Portugal). He showed that both countries
to attempt to make at home what it will cost him more
can gain by opening up trade and specializing based on comparative
to make than to buy. The tailor does not attempt to make
advantage.
his own shoes, but buys them of the shoemaker. The
Ricardo’s theory is the starting point of modern international
shoemaker does not attempt to make his own clothes but
economics, but his defense of free trade was not a mere academic
employs a tailor. The farmer attempts to make neither the
exercise. Ricardo put his beliefs to work as a member of the British
one nor the other, but employs those different artificers.
Parliament, where he opposed the Corn Laws, which restricted the
All of them find it for their interest to employ their whole
import of grain.
industry in a way in which they have some
The conclusions of Adam Smith and David
advantage over their neighbors, and to purchase
Ricardo on the gains from trade have held up well
with a part of its produce, or what is the same
over time. Although economists often disagree on
thing, with the price of part of it, whatever else
questions of policy, they are united in their support
they have occasion for.
of free trade. Moreover, the central argument for
free trade has not changed much in the past two
This quotation is from Smith’s 1776 book An Inquiry
centuries. Even though the field of economics has
into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations,
broadened its scope and refined its theories since the
which was a landmark in the analysis of trade and
time of Smith and Ricardo, economists’ opposition to
economic interdependence.
trade restrictions is still based largely on the principle
Smith’s book inspired David Ricardo, a millionaire
of comparative advantage.
stockbroker, to become an economist. In his 1817
David Ricardo
© BETTMANN/CORBIS
conomists have long understood the gains from trade. Here is
how the great economist Adam Smith put the argument:
Applications of Comparative Advantage
The principle of comparative advantage explains interdependence and the gains
from trade. Because interdependence is so prevalent in the modern world, the
principle of comparative advantage has many applications. Here are two examples, one fanciful and one of great practical importance.
Should Tom Brady Mow His Own Lawn?
Tom Brady spends a lot of time running around on grass. One of the most talented
football players of all time, he can throw a pass with a speed and accuracy that
most casual athletes can only dream of. Most likely, he is talented at other physical
activities as well. For example, let’s imagine that Brady can mow his lawn faster than
anyone else. But just because he can mow his lawn fast, does this mean he should?
To answer this question, we can use the concepts of opportunity cost and comparative advantage. Let’s say that Brady can mow his lawn in 2 hours. In that
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PART I
INTRODUCTION
© TOM HAUCK/GETTY IMAGES SPORT/GETTY IMAGES
58
“They did a nice job
mowing this grass.”
imports
goods produced abroad
and sold domestically
exports
goods produced domestically and sold abroad
same 2 hours, he could film a television commercial and earn $20,000. By contrast,
Forrest Gump, the boy next door, can mow Brady’s lawn in 4 hours. In that same
4 hours, Gump could work at McDonald’s and earn $40.
In this example, Brady has an absolute advantage in mowing lawns because he
can do the work with a lower input of time. Yet because Brady’s opportunity cost
of mowing the lawn is $20,000 and Gump’s opportunity cost is only $40, Gump
has a comparative advantage in mowing lawns.
The gains from trade in this example are tremendous. Rather than mowing his
own lawn, Brady should make the commercial and hire Gump to mow the lawn.
As long as Brady pays Gump more than $40 and less than $20,000, both of them
are better off.
Should the United States Trade
with Other Countries?
Just as individuals can benefit from specialization and trade with one another, as
the farmer and rancher did, so can populations of people in different countries.
Many of the goods that Americans enjoy are produced abroad, and many of the
goods produced in the United States are sold abroad. Goods produced abroad
and sold domestically are called imports. Goods produced domestically and sold
abroad are called exports.
To see how countries can benefit from trade, suppose there are two countries,
the United States and Japan, and two goods, food and cars. Imagine that the two
countries produce cars equally well: An American worker and a Japanese worker
can each produce one car per month. By contrast, because the United States has
more and better land, it is better at producing food: A U.S. worker can produce
2 tons of food per month, whereas a Japanese worker can produce only 1 ton of
food per month.
The principle of comparative advantage states that each good should be
produced by the country that has the smaller opportunity cost of producing
that good. Because the opportunity cost of a car is 2 tons of food in the United
States but only 1 ton of food in Japan, Japan has a comparative advantage in
producing cars. Japan should produce more cars than it wants for its own use
and export some of them to the United States. Similarly, because the opportunity cost of a ton of food is 1 car in Japan but only ½ car in the United States,
the United States has a comparative advantage in producing food. The United
States should produce more food than it wants to consume and export some
to Japan. Through specialization and trade, both countries can have more food
and more cars.
In reality, of course, the issues involved in trade among nations are more complex than this example suggests. Most important among these issues is that each
country has many citizens with different interests. International trade can make
some individuals worse off, even as it makes the country as a whole better off.
When the United States exports food and imports cars, the impact on an American
farmer is not the same as the impact on an American autoworker. Yet, contrary to
the opinions sometimes voiced by politicians and pundits, international trade is
not like war, in which some countries win and others lose. Trade allows all countries to achieve greater prosperity.
QUICK QUIZ Suppose that a skilled brain surgeon also happens to be the world’s
fastest typist. Should she do her own typing or hire a secretary? Explain.
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INTERDEPENDENCE AND THE GAINS FROM TRADE
59
in the news
The Changing Face of International Trade
A decade ago, no one would have asked which nation has a comparative
advantage in slaying ogres. But technology is rapidly changing the goods
and services that are traded across national borders.
Ogre to Slay?
Outsource It to
Chinese
BY DAVID BARBOZA
© MARK RALSTON/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
F
uzhou, China—One of China’s newest
factories operates here in the basement
of an old warehouse. Posters of World
of Warcraft and Magic Land hang above
a corps of young people glued to their
computer screens, pounding away at their
keyboards in the latest hustle for money.
The people working at this clandestine
locale are “gold farmers.” Every day, in
12-hour shifts, they “play” computer games
by killing onscreen monsters and winning
battles, harvesting artificial gold coins and
other virtual goods as rewards that, as it
turns out, can be transformed into real cash.
That is because, from Seoul to San
Francisco, affluent online gamers who lack
the time and patience to work their way up
to the higher levels of gamedom are willing
to pay the young Chinese here to play the
early rounds for them.
“For 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, my
colleagues and I are killing monsters,” said
a 23-year-old gamer who works here in this
makeshift factory and goes by the online
code name Wandering. “I make about $250
a month, which is pretty good compared
with the other jobs I’ve had. And I can play
games all day.”
He and his comrades have created
yet another new business out of cheap
Chinese labor. They are tapping into the
fast-growing world of “massively multiplayer online games,” which involve role
playing and often revolve around fantasy
or warfare in medieval kingdoms or distant
galaxies. . . .
For the Chinese in game-playing factories like these, though, it is not all fun and
games. These workers have strict quotas
and are supervised by bosses who equip
them with computers, software and Internet
connections to thrash online trolls, gnomes
and ogres.
As they grind through the games, they
accumulate virtual currency that is valuable to game players around the world.
The games allow players to trade currency to other players, who can then use
it to buy better armor, amulets, magic
spells and other accoutrements to climb
to higher levels or create more powerful
characters.
The Internet is now filled with classified
advertisements from small companies—
many of them here in China—auctioning
for real money their powerful figures, called
avatars. . . .
“It’s unimaginable how big this is,”
says Chen Yu, 27, who employs 20 full-time
gamers here in Fuzhou. “They say that in
some of these popular games, 40 or 50
percent of the players are actually Chinese
farmers.”
Source: New York Times, December 9, 2005.
Conclusion
You should now understand more fully the benefits of living in an interdependent
economy. When Americans buy tube socks from China, when residents of Maine
drink orange juice from Florida, and when a homeowner hires the kid next door
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60
PART I
INTRODUCTION
to mow the lawn, the same economic forces are at work. The principle of comparative advantage shows that trade can make everyone better off.
Having seen why interdependence is desirable, you might naturally ask how it
is possible. How do free societies coordinate the diverse activities of all the people
involved in their economies? What ensures that goods and services will get from
those who should be producing them to those who should be consuming them? In
a world with only two people, such as the rancher and the farmer, the answer is
simple: These two people can bargain and allocate resources between themselves.
In the real world with billions of people, the answer is less obvious. We take up
this issue in the next chapter, where we see that free societies allocate resources
through the market forces of supply and demand.
SUMMAR Y
SUMMARY
• Each person consumes goods and services produced by many other people both in the United
States and around the world. Interdependence
and trade are desirable because they allow
everyone to enjoy a greater quantity and variety
of goods and services.
• There are two ways to compare the ability of two
people in producing a good. The person who
can produce the good with the smaller quantity
of inputs is said to have an absolute advantage in
producing the good. The person who has the
•
smaller opportunity cost of producing the good
is said to have a comparative advantage. The gains
from trade are based on comparative advantage,
not absolute advantage.
Trade makes everyone better off because it
allows people to specialize in those activities in
which they have a comparative advantage.
• The principle of comparative advantage applies
to countries as well as to people. Economists
use the principle of comparative advantage to
advocate free trade among countries.
KEY CONC
CONCEPTS
EPTS
absolute advantage, p. 54
opportunity cost, p. 54
comparative advantage, p. 55
imports, p. 58
exports, p. 58
QU S IO
QUEST
O NS
S FOR
O R EVIEW
1. Under what conditions is the production possibilities frontier linear rather than bowed out?
2. Explain how absolute advantage and comparative advantage differ.
3. Give an example in which one person has an
absolute advantage in doing something but
another person has a comparative advantage.
4. Is absolute advantage or comparative advantage more important for trade? Explain your
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-003.indd 60
reasoning using the example in your answer to
Question 3.
5. If two parties trade based on comparative
advantage and both gain, in what range must
the price of the trade lie?
6. Will a nation tend to export or import goods for
which it has a comparative advantage? Explain.
7. Why do economists oppose policies that restrict
trade among nations?
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INTERDEPENDENCE AND THE GAINS FROM TRADE
61
PRO
O B LEMS
S AND APPLICATIO
C
O NS
S
1. Maria can read 20 pages of economics in an
hour. She can also read 50 pages of sociology in
an hour. She spends 5 hours per day studying.
a. Draw Maria’s production possibilities frontier for reading economics and sociology.
b. What is Maria’s opportunity cost of reading
100 pages of sociology?
2. American and Japanese workers can each produce 4 cars a year. An American worker can
produce 10 tons of grain a year, whereas a
Japanese worker can produce 5 tons of grain a
year. To keep things simple, assume that each
country has 100 million workers.
a. For this situation, construct a table analogous
to the table in Figure 1.
b. Graph the production possibilities frontier of
the American and Japanese economies.
c. For the United States, what is the opportunity
cost of a car? Of grain? For Japan, what is the
opportunity cost of a car? Of grain? Put this
information in a table analogous to Table 1.
d. Which country has an absolute advantage in
producing cars? In producing grain?
e. Which country has a comparative advantage
in producing cars? In producing grain?
f. Without trade, half of each country’s workers
produce cars and half produce grain. What
quantities of cars and grain does each country produce?
g. Starting from a position without trade, give
an example in which trade makes each country better off.
3. Pat and Kris are roommates. They spend most
of their time studying (of course), but they leave
some time for their favorite activities: making
pizza and brewing root beer. Pat takes 4 hours
to brew a gallon of root beer and 2 hours to
make a pizza. Kris takes 6 hours to brew a gallon of root beer and 4 hours to make a pizza.
a. What is each roommate’s opportunity cost
of making a pizza? Who has the absolute
advantage in making pizza? Who has the
comparative advantage in making pizza?
b. If Pat and Kris trade foods with each other,
who will trade away pizza in exchange for
root beer?
c. The price of pizza can be expressed in terms
of gallons of root beer. What is the highest price at which pizza can be traded that
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-003.indd 61
would make both roommates better off?
What is the lowest price? Explain.
4. Suppose that there are 10 million workers in
Canada and that each of these workers can produce either 2 cars or 30 bushels of wheat in a year.
a. What is the opportunity cost of producing a
car in Canada? What is the opportunity cost
of producing a bushel of wheat in Canada?
Explain the relationship between the opportunity costs of the two goods.
b. Draw Canada’s production possibilities frontier. If Canada chooses to consume 10 million
cars, how much wheat can it consume without trade? Label this point on the production
possibilities frontier.
c. Now suppose that the United States offers to
buy 10 million cars from Canada in exchange
for 20 bushels of wheat per car. If Canada
continues to consume 10 million cars, how
much wheat does this deal allow Canada to
consume? Label this point on your diagram.
Should Canada accept the deal?
5. England and Scotland both produce scones and
sweaters. Suppose that an English worker can
produce 50 scones per hour or 1 sweater per
hour. Suppose that a Scottish worker can produce 40 scones per hour or 2 sweaters per hour.
a. Which country has the absolute advantage in
the production of each good? Which country
has the comparative advantage?
b. If England and Scotland decide to trade,
which commodity will Scotland trade to
England? Explain.
c. If a Scottish worker could produce only 1
sweater per hour, would Scotland still gain
from trade? Would England still gain from
trade? Explain.
6. The following table describes the production possibilities of two cities in the country of Baseballia:
Boston
Chicago
Pairs of Red Socks
per Worker per Hour
Pairs of White Socks
per Worker per Hour
3
2
3
1
a. Without trade, what is the price of white
socks (in terms of red socks) in Boston? What
is the price in Chicago?
b. Which city has an absolute advantage in the
production of each color sock? Which city has
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62
PART I
INTRODUCTION
a comparative advantage in the production of
each color sock?
c. If the cities trade with each other, which color
sock will each export?
d. What is the range of prices at which trade can
occur?
7. Suppose that in a year an American worker
can produce 100 shirts or 20 computers, while
a Chinese worker can produce 100 shirts or
10 computers.
a. Graph the production possibilities curve for
the two countries. Suppose that without trade
the workers in each country spend half their
time producing each good. Identify this point
in your graph.
b. If these countries were open to trade, which
country would export shirts? Give a specific
numerical example and show it on your
graph. Which country would benefit from
trade? Explain.
c. Explain at what price of computers (in terms
of shirts) the two countries might trade.
d. Suppose that China catches up with
American productivity so that a Chinese
worker can produce 100 shirts or 20 computers. What pattern of trade would you
predict now? How does this advance
in Chinese productivity affect the economic well-being of the citizens of the two
countries?
8. An average worker in Brazil can produce an
ounce of soybeans in 20 minutes and an ounce
of coffee in 60 minutes, while an average worker
in Peru can produce an ounce of soybeans in
50 minutes and an ounce of coffee in 75 minutes.
a. Who has the absolute advantage in coffee?
Explain.
b. Who has the comparative advantage in coffee? Explain.
c. If the two countries specialize and trade
with each other, who will import coffee?
Explain.
d. Assume that the two countries trade and that
the country importing coffee trades 2 ounces
of soybeans for 1 ounce of coffee. Explain why
both countries will benefit from this trade.
9. Are the following statements true or false?
Explain in each case.
a. “Two countries can achieve gains from trade
even if one of the countries has an absolute
advantage in the production of all goods.”
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-003.indd 62
b. “Certain very talented people have a comparative advantage in everything they do.”
c. “If a certain trade is good for one person, it
can’t be good for the other one.”
d. “If a certain trade is good for one person, it is
always good for the other one.”
e. “If trade is good for a country, it must be
good for everyone in the country.”
10. The United States exports corn and aircraft to the
rest of the world, and it imports oil and clothing
from the rest of the world. Do you think this pattern of trade is consistent with the principle of
comparative advantage? Why or why not?
11. Bill and Hillary produce food and clothing. In
an hour, Bill can produce 1 unit of food or 1 unit
of clothing, while Hillary can produce 2 units
of food or 3 units of clothing. They each work
10 hours a day.
a. Who has an absolute advantage in producing
food? Who has an absolute advantage in producing clothing? Explain.
b. Who has a comparative advantage in producing food? Who has a comparative advantage
in producing clothing? Explain.
c. Draw the production possibilities frontier
for the household (that is, Bill and Hillary
together) assuming that each spends the
same number of hours each day as the other
producing food and clothing.
d. Hillary suggests, instead, that she specialize
in making clothing. That is, she will do all the
clothing production for the family; however, if
all her time is devoted to clothing and they still
want more, then Bill can help with clothing
production. What does the household production possibilities frontier look like now?
e. Bill suggests that Hillary specialize in producing food. That is, Hillary will do all the food
production for the family; however, if all her
time is devoted to food and they still want
more, then Bill can help with food production.
What does the household production possibilities frontier look like under Bill’s proposal?
f. Comparing your answers to parts c, d, and e,
which allocation of time makes the most
sense? Relate your answer to the theory of
comparative advantage.
For further information on topics in this chapter,
additional problems, applications, examples, online
quizzes, and more, please visit our website at www
.cengage.com/economics/mankiw.
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II
PART
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-004.indd 63
How Markets
Work
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The Market Forces of
Supply and Demand
4
W
hen a cold snap hits Florida, the price of orange juice rises in supermarkets throughout the country. When the weather turns warm in New
England every summer, the price of hotel rooms in the Caribbean plummets. When a war breaks out in the Middle East, the price of gasoline
in the United States rises, and the price of a used Cadillac falls. What do these events
have in common? They all show the workings of supply and demand.
Supply and demand are the two words economists use most often—and for good
reason. Supply and demand are the forces that make market economies work.
They determine the quantity of each good produced and the price at which it is
sold. If you want to know how any event or policy will affect the economy, you
must think first about how it will affect supply and demand.
This chapter introduces the theory of supply and demand. It considers how
buyers and sellers behave and how they interact with one another. It shows how
supply and demand determine prices in a market economy and how prices, in
turn, allocate the economy’s scarce resources.
65
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66
PART II
HOW MARKETS WORK
Markets and Competition
The terms supply and demand refer to the behavior of people as they interact with
one another in competitive markets. Before discussing how buyers and sellers
behave, let’s first consider more fully what we mean by the terms market and
competition.
What Is a Market?
market
a group of buyers and
sellers of a particular
good or service
A market is a group of buyers and sellers of a particular good or service. The buyers as a group determine the demand for the product, and the sellers as a group
determine the supply of the product.
Markets take many forms. Some markets are highly organized, such as the
markets for many agricultural commodities. In these markets, buyers and sellers
meet at a specific time and place, where an auctioneer helps set prices and arrange
sales.
More often, markets are less organized. For example, consider the market for
ice cream in a particular town. Buyers of ice cream do not meet together at any
one time. The sellers of ice cream are in different locations and offer somewhat
different products. There is no auctioneer calling out the price of ice cream. Each
seller posts a price for an ice-cream cone, and each buyer decides how much ice
cream to buy at each store. Nonetheless, these consumers and producers of ice
cream are closely connected. The ice-cream buyers are choosing from the various
ice-cream sellers to satisfy their cravings, and the ice-cream sellers are all trying
to appeal to the same ice-cream buyers to make their businesses successful. Even
though it is not as organized, the group of ice-cream buyers and ice-cream sellers
forms a market.
What Is Competition?
competitive market
a market in which there
are many buyers and
many sellers so that each
has a negligible impact on
the market price
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-004.indd 66
The market for ice cream, like most markets in the economy, is highly competitive.
Each buyer knows that there are several sellers from which to choose, and each
seller is aware that his or her product is similar to that offered by other sellers. As a
result, the price of ice cream and the quantity of ice cream sold are not determined
by any single buyer or seller. Rather, price and quantity are determined by all buyers and sellers as they interact in the marketplace.
Economists use the term competitive market to describe a market in which
there are so many buyers and so many sellers that each has a negligible impact
on the market price. Each seller of ice cream has limited control over the price
because other sellers are offering similar products. A seller has little reason
to charge less than the going price, and if he or she charges more, buyers will
make their purchases elsewhere. Similarly, no single buyer of ice cream can
influence the price of ice cream because each buyer purchases only a small
amount.
In this chapter, we assume that markets are perfectly competitive. To reach this
highest form of competition, a market must have two characteristics: (1) the goods
offered for sale are all exactly the same, and (2) the buyers and sellers are so
numerous that no single buyer or seller has any influence over the market price.
Because buyers and sellers in perfectly competitive markets must accept the price
the market determines, they are said to be price takers. At the market price, buyers
can buy all they want, and sellers can sell all they want.
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CHAPTER 4
THE MARKET FORCES OF SUPPLY AND DEMAND
67
There are some markets in which the assumption of perfect competition applies
perfectly. In the wheat market, for example, there are thousands of farmers
who sell wheat and millions of consumers who use wheat and wheat products.
Because no single buyer or seller can influence the price of wheat, each takes the
price as given.
Not all goods and services, however, are sold in perfectly competitive markets.
Some markets have only one seller, and this seller sets the price. Such a seller is
called a monopoly. Your local cable television company, for instance, may be a
monopoly. Residents of your town probably have only one cable company from
which to buy this service. Still other markets fall between the extremes of perfect
competition and monopoly.
Despite the diversity of market types we find in the world, assuming perfect
competition is a useful simplification and, therefore, a natural place to start.
Perfectly competitive markets are the easiest to analyze because everyone participating in the market takes the price as given by market conditions. Moreover,
because some degree of competition is present in most markets, many of the lessons that we learn by studying supply and demand under perfect competition
apply in more complicated markets as well.
QUICK QUIZ
tive market?
What is a market? • What are the characteristics of a perfectly competi-
Demand
We begin our study of markets by examining the behavior of buyers. To focus our
thinking, let’s keep in mind a particular good—ice cream.
The Demand Curve: The Relationship between
Price and Quantity Demanded
The quantity demanded of any good is the amount of the good that buyers
are willing and able to purchase. As we will see, many things determine the
quantity demanded of any good, but in our analysis of how markets work, one
determinant plays a central role—the price of the good. If the price of ice cream
rose to $20 per scoop, you would buy less ice cream. You might buy frozen
yogurt instead. If the price of ice cream fell to $0.20 per scoop, you would buy
more. This relationship between price and quantity demanded is true for most
goods in the economy and, in fact, is so pervasive that economists call it the
law of demand: Other things equal, when the price of a good rises, the quantity
demanded of the good falls, and when the price falls, the quantity demanded
rises.
The table in Figure 1 shows how many ice-cream cones Catherine buys each
month at different prices of ice cream. If ice cream is free, Catherine eats 12 cones
per month. At $0.50 per cone, Catherine buys 10 cones each month. As the price
rises further, she buys fewer and fewer cones. When the price reaches $3.00,
Catherine doesn’t buy any ice cream at all. This table is a demand schedule, a
table that shows the relationship between the price of a good and the quantity
demanded, holding constant everything else that influences how much of the
good consumers want to buy.
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-004.indd 67
quantity demanded
the amount of a good
that buyers are willing
and able to purchase
law of demand
the claim that, other things
equal, the quantity
demanded of a good falls
when the price of the
good rises
demand schedule
a table that shows the
relationship between the
price of a good and the
quantity demanded
09/12/10 8:09 PM
68
PART II
Figure
HOW MARKETS WORK
1
Catherine’s Demand
Schedule and Demand
Curve
The demand schedule is a table that shows the quantity demanded at each price.
The demand curve, which graphs the demand schedule, illustrates how the quantity
demanded of the good changes as its price varies. Because a lower price increases the
quantity demanded, the demand curve slopes downward.
Price of
Ice-Cream Cone
Quantity of
Cones Demanded
$0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
3.00
12 cones
10
8
6
4
2
0
Price of
Ice-Cream Cone
$3.00
2.50
1. A decrease in
price . . .
2.00
1.50
1.00
Demand curve
0.50
0
demand curve
a graph of the
relationship between the
price of a good and the
quantity demanded
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-004.indd 68
1
2
9 10 11 12
Quantity of
Ice-Cream Cones
2. . . . increases quantity of
cones demanded.
3
4
5
6
7
8
The graph in Figure 1 uses the numbers from the table to illustrate the law
of demand. By convention, the price of ice cream is on the vertical axis, and the
quantity of ice cream demanded is on the horizontal axis. The downward-sloping
line relating price and quantity demanded is called the demand curve.
Market Demand versus Individual Demand
The demand curve in Figure 1 shows an individual’s demand for a product. To
analyze how markets work, we need to determine the market demand, the sum of
all the individual demands for a particular good or service.
The table in Figure 2 shows the demand schedules for ice cream of the two
individuals in this market—Catherine and Nicholas. At any price, Catherine’s
demand schedule tells us how much ice cream she buys, and Nicholas’s demand
schedule tells us how much ice cream he buys. The market demand at each price
is the sum of the two individual demands.
The graph in Figure 2 shows the demand curves that correspond to these
demand schedules. Notice that we sum the individual demand curves horizontally to obtain the market demand curve. That is, to find the total quantity
demanded at any price, we add the individual quantities, which are found on
the horizontal axis of the individual demand curves. Because we are interested in
analyzing how markets function, we work most often with the market demand
curve. The market demand curve shows how the total quantity demanded of a
09/12/10 8:09 PM
CHAPTER 4
THE MARKET FORCES OF SUPPLY AND DEMAND
Figure
The quantity demanded in a market is the sum of the quantities demanded by all the
buyers at each price. Thus, the market demand curve is found by adding horizontally
the individual demand curves. At a price of $2.00, Catherine demands 4 ice-cream
cones, and Nicholas demands 3 ice-cream cones. The quantity demanded in the
market at this price is 7 cones.
Price of Ice-Cream Cone
Catherine
$0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
3.00
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Catherine's Demand
Nicholas
+
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
+
Nicholas's Demand
=
Market Demand
Price of
Ice-Cream
Cone
$3.00
$3.00
$3.00
2.50
2.50
2.50
2.00
2.00
2.00
1.50
1.50
1.50
1.00
1.00
0.50
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Quantity of Ice-Cream Cones
Market Demand as the
Sum of Individual Demands
19 cones
16
13
10
7
4
1
Price of
Ice-Cream
Cone
DCatherine
2
Market
=
Price of
Ice-Cream
Cone
0.50
69
1.00
DNicholas
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Quantity of Ice-Cream Cones
DMarket
0.50
0
2
4
6 8 10 12 14 16 18
Quantity of Ice-Cream Cones
good varies as the price of the good varies, while all the other factors that affect
how much consumers want to buy are held constant.
Shifts in the Demand Curve
Because the market demand curve holds other things constant, it need not be
stable over time. If something happens to alter the quantity demanded at any
given price, the demand curve shifts. For example, suppose the American Medical Association discovered that people who regularly eat ice cream live longer,
healthier lives. The discovery would raise the demand for ice cream. At any given
price, buyers would now want to purchase a larger quantity of ice cream, and the
demand curve for ice cream would shift.
Figure 3 illustrates shifts in demand. Any change that increases the quantity
demanded at every price, such as our imaginary discovery by the American Medical Association, shifts the demand curve to the right and is called an increase in
demand. Any change that reduces the quantity demanded at every price shifts the
demand curve to the left and is called a decrease in demand.
There are many variables that can shift the demand curve. Here are the most
important.
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-004.indd 69
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70
PART II
Figure
HOW MARKETS WORK
3
Shifts in the Demand
Curve
Price of
Ice-Cream
Cone
Increase
in demand
Any change that raises the
quantity that buyers wish to
purchase at any given price
shifts the demand curve to
the right. Any change that
lowers the quantity that
buyers wish to purchase at
any given price shifts the
demand curve to the left.
Decrease
in demand
Demand curve, D3
0
normal good
a good for which, other
things equal, an increase
in income leads to an
increase in demand
inferior good
a good for which, other
things equal, an increase
in income leads to a
decrease in demand
substitutes
two goods for which an
increase in the price of
one leads to an increase in
the demand for the other
complements
two goods for which an
increase in the price of
one leads to a decrease in
the demand for the other
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-004.indd 70
Demand
curve, D1
Demand
curve, D2
Quantity of
Ice-Cream Cones
Income What would happen to your demand for ice cream if you lost your
job one summer? Most likely, it would fall. A lower income means that you have
less to spend in total, so you would have to spend less on some—and probably
most—goods. If the demand for a good falls when income falls, the good is called
a normal good.
Not all goods are normal goods. If the demand for a good rises when income
falls, the good is called an inferior good. An example of an inferior good might be
bus rides. As your income falls, you are less likely to buy a car or take a cab and
more likely to ride a bus.
Prices of Related Goods Suppose that the price of frozen yogurt falls. The
law of demand says that you will buy more frozen yogurt. At the same time,
you will probably buy less ice cream. Because ice cream and frozen yogurt are
both cold, sweet, creamy desserts, they satisfy similar desires. When a fall in the
price of one good reduces the demand for another good, the two goods are called
substitutes. Substitutes are often pairs of goods that are used in place of each
other, such as hot dogs and hamburgers, sweaters and sweatshirts, and movie
tickets and DVD rentals.
Now suppose that the price of hot fudge falls. According to the law of demand,
you will buy more hot fudge. Yet in this case, you will buy more ice cream as
well because ice cream and hot fudge are often used together. When a fall in the
price of one good raises the demand for another good, the two goods are called
complements. Complements are often pairs of goods that are used together, such
as gasoline and automobiles, computers and software, and peanut butter and jelly.
Tastes The most obvious determinant of your demand is your tastes. If you like
ice cream, you buy more of it. Economists normally do not try to explain people’s
tastes because tastes are based on historical and psychological forces that are
beyond the realm of economics. Economists do, however, examine what happens
when tastes change.
09/12/10 8:09 PM
CHAPTER 4
THE MARKET FORCES OF SUPPLY AND DEMAND
71
Expectations Your expectations about the future may affect your demand for
a good or service today. If you expect to earn a higher income next month, you
may choose to save less now and spend more of your current income buying ice
cream. If you expect the price of ice cream to fall tomorrow, you may be less willing to buy an ice-cream cone at today’s price.
Number of Buyers In addition to the preceding factors, which influence the
behavior of individual buyers, market demand depends on the number of these
buyers. If Peter were to join Catherine and Nicholas as another consumer of ice
cream, the quantity demanded in the market would be higher at every price, and
market demand would increase.
Two Ways to Reduce the Quantity
of Smoking Demanded
Public policymakers often want to reduce the amount that people smoke because
of smoking’s adverse health effects. There are two ways that policy can attempt
to achieve this goal.
One way to reduce smoking is to shift the demand curve for cigarettes and other
tobacco products. Public service announcements, mandatory health warnings on
cigarette packages, and the prohibition of cigarette advertising on television are
all policies aimed at reducing the quantity of cigarettes demanded at any given
price. If successful, these policies shift the demand curve for cigarettes to the left,
as in panel (a) of Figure 4.
© ACESTOCK/ACE STOCK LIMITED/ALAMY
Summary The demand curve shows what happens to the quantity demanded of
a good when its price varies, holding constant all the other variables that influence
buyers. When one of these other variables changes, the demand curve shifts. Table
1 lists the variables that influence how much consumers choose to buy of a good.
If you have trouble remembering whether you need to shift or move along the
demand curve, it helps to recall a lesson from the appendix to Chapter 2. A curve
shifts when there is a change in a relevant variable that is not measured on either
axis. Because the price is on the vertical axis, a change in price represents a movement along the demand curve. By contrast, income, the prices of related goods,
tastes, expectations, and the number of buyers are not measured on either axis, so
a change in one of these variables shifts the demand curve.
What is the best way
to stop this?
Table
Variable
Price of the good itself
Income
Prices of related goods
Tastes
Expectations
Number of buyers
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-004.indd 71
A Change in This Variable . . .
Represents a movement along the demand curve
Shifts the demand curve
Shifts the demand curve
Shifts the demand curve
Shifts the demand curve
Shifts the demand curve
1
Variables That Influence Buyers
This table lists the variables that
affect how much consumers choose
to buy of any good. Notice the
special role that the price of the
good plays: A change in the good’s
price represents a movement
along the demand curve, whereas
a change in one of the other
variables shifts the demand curve.
09/12/10 8:09 PM
72
PART II
Figure
HOW MARKETS WORK
4
Shifts in the Demand
Curve versus Movements
along the Demand Curve
If warnings on cigarette packages convince smokers to smoke less, the demand curve
for cigarettes shifts to the left. In panel (a), the demand curve shifts from D1 to D2. At
a price of $2.00 per pack, the quantity demanded falls from 20 to 10 cigarettes per
day, as reflected by the shift from point A to point B. By contrast, if a tax raises the
price of cigarettes, the demand curve does not shift. Instead, we observe a movement
to a different point on the demand curve. In panel (b), when the price rises from $2.00
to $4.00, the quantity demanded falls from 20 to 12 cigarettes per day, as reflected by
the movement from point A to point C.
(a) A Shift in the Demand Curve
Price of
Cigarettes,
per Pack
A policy to discourage
smoking shifts the
demand curve to the left.
B
$2.00
A
(b) A Movement along the Demand Curve
Price of
Cigarettes,
per Pack
$4.00
C
A tax that raises the price
of cigarettes results in a
movement along the
demand curve.
A
2.00
D1
D1
D2
0
10
20
Number of Cigarettes Smoked per Day
0
12
20
Number of Cigarettes Smoked per Day
Alternatively, policymakers can try to raise the price of cigarettes. If the government taxes the manufacture of cigarettes, for example, cigarette companies
pass much of this tax on to consumers in the form of higher prices. A higher price
encourages smokers to reduce the numbers of cigarettes they smoke. In this case,
the reduced amount of smoking does not represent a shift in the demand curve.
Instead, it represents a movement along the same demand curve to a point with a
higher price and lower quantity, as in panel (b) of Figure 4.
How much does the amount of smoking respond to changes in the price of
cigarettes? Economists have attempted to answer this question by studying what
happens when the tax on cigarettes changes. They have found that a 10 percent
increase in the price causes a 4 percent reduction in the quantity demanded.
Teenagers are found to be especially sensitive to the price of cigarettes: A 10 percent increase in the price causes a 12 percent drop in teenage smoking.
A related question is how the price of cigarettes affects the demand for illicit
drugs, such as marijuana. Opponents of cigarette taxes often argue that tobacco
and marijuana are substitutes so that high cigarette prices encourage marijuana
use. By contrast, many experts on substance abuse view tobacco as a “gateway
drug” leading the young to experiment with other harmful substances. Most studies of the data are consistent with this latter view: They find that lower cigarette
prices are associated with greater use of marijuana. In other words, tobacco and
marijuana appear to be complements rather than substitutes. ■
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-004.indd 72
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CHAPTER 4
THE MARKET FORCES OF SUPPLY AND DEMAND
73
QUICK QUIZ Make up an example of a monthly demand schedule for pizza and
graph the implied demand curve. • Give an example of something that would shift
this demand curve, and briefly explain your reasoning. • Would a change in the price
of pizza shift this demand curve?
Supply
We now turn to the other side of the market and examine the behavior of sellers.
Once again, to focus our thinking, let’s consider the market for ice cream.
The Supply Curve: The Relationship between Price
and Quantity Supplied
The quantity supplied of any good or service is the amount that sellers are
willing and able to sell. There are many determinants of quantity supplied,
but once again, price plays a special role in our analysis. When the price of
ice cream is high, selling ice cream is profitable, and so the quantity supplied
is large. Sellers of ice cream work long hours, buy many ice-cream machines,
and hire many workers. By contrast, when the price of ice cream is low, the
business is less profitable, so sellers produce less ice cream. At a low price,
some sellers may even choose to shut down, and their quantity supplied falls
to zero. This relationship between price and quantity supplied is called the
law of supply: Other things equal, when the price of a good rises, the quantity
supplied of the good also rises, and when the price falls, the quantity supplied
falls as well.
The table in Figure 5 shows the quantity of ice-cream cones supplied each
month by Ben, an ice-cream seller, at various prices of ice cream. At a price below
$1.00, Ben does not supply any ice cream at all. As the price rises, he supplies
a greater and greater quantity. This is the supply schedule, a table that shows
the relationship between the price of a good and the quantity supplied, holding
constant everything else that influences how much producers of the good want
to sell.
The graph in Figure 5 uses the numbers from the table to illustrate the law
of supply. The curve relating price and quantity supplied is called the supply
curve. The supply curve slopes upward because, other things equal, a higher price
means a greater quantity supplied.
Market Supply versus Individual Supply
Just as market demand is the sum of the demands of all buyers, market supply is
the sum of the supplies of all sellers. The table in Figure 6 shows the supply schedules for the two ice-cream producers in the market—Ben and Jerry. At any price,
Ben’s supply schedule tells us the quantity of ice cream Ben supplies, and Jerry’s
supply schedule tells us the quantity of ice cream Jerry supplies. The market supply is the sum of the two individual supplies.
The graph in Figure 6 shows the supply curves that correspond to the supply
schedules. As with demand curves, we sum the individual supply curves horizontally to obtain the market supply curve. That is, to find the total quantity supplied
at any price, we add the individual quantities, which are found on the horizontal
axis of the individual supply curves. The market supply curve shows how the
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-004.indd 73
quantity supplied
the amount of a good
that sellers are willing and
able to sell
law of supply
the claim that, other things
equal, the quantity supplied
of a good rises when the
price of the good rises
supply schedule
a table that shows the
relationship between the
price of a good and the
quantity supplied
supply curve
a graph of the
relationship between the
price of a good and the
quantity supplied
09/12/10 8:09 PM
74
PART II
Figure
HOW MARKETS WORK
5
Ben’s Supply Schedule and
Supply Curve
The supply schedule is a table that shows the quantity supplied at each price. This
supply curve, which graphs the supply schedule, illustrates how the quantity supplied
of the good changes as its price varies. Because a higher price increases the quantity
supplied, the supply curve slopes upward.
Price of
Ice-Cream Cone
Quantity of
Cones Supplied
$0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
3.00
0 cones
0
1
2
3
4
5
Price of
Ice-Cream
Cone
$3.00
1. An
increase
in price . . .
Supply curve
2.50
2.00
1.50
1.00
0.50
0
1
2
10 11 12 Quantity of
Ice-Cream Cones
2. . . . increases quantity of cones supplied.
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
total quantity supplied varies as the price of the good varies, holding constant
all the other factors beyond price that influence producers’ decisions about how
much to sell.
Shifts in the Supply Curve
Because the market supply curve holds other things constant, the curve shifts
when one of the factors changes. For example, suppose the price of sugar falls.
Sugar is an input into producing ice cream, so the fall in the price of sugar makes
selling ice cream more profitable. This raises the supply of ice cream: At any given
price, sellers are now willing to produce a larger quantity. The supply curve for
ice cream shifts to the right.
Figure 7 illustrates shifts in supply. Any change that raises quantity supplied at
every price, such as a fall in the price of sugar, shifts the supply curve to the right
and is called an increase in supply. Similarly, any change that reduces the quantity
supplied at every price shifts the supply curve to the left and is called a decrease
in supply.
There are many variables that can shift the supply curve. Here are some of the
most important.
Input Prices To produce their output of ice cream, sellers use various inputs:
cream, sugar, flavoring, ice-cream machines, the buildings in which the ice
cream is made, and the labor of workers to mix the ingredients and operate
the machines. When the price of one or more of these inputs rises, producing
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-004.indd 74
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CHAPTER 4
THE MARKET FORCES OF SUPPLY AND DEMAND
The quantity supplied in a market is the sum of the quantities supplied by all the
sellers at each price. Thus, the market supply curve is found by adding horizontally the
individual supply curves. At a price of $2.00, Ben supplies 3 ice-cream cones, and Jerry
supplies 4 ice-cream cones. The quantity supplied in the market at this price is 7 cones.
Price of Ice-Cream Cone
Ben
$0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
3.00
0
0
1
2
3
4
5
Ben's Supply
Price of
Ice-Cream
Cone
S Ben
Jerry
+
0
0
0
2
4
6
8
+
=
=
S Jerry
Market Supply
Price of
Ice-Cream
Cone
$3.00
$3.00
2.50
2.50
2.50
2.00
2.00
2.00
1.50
1.50
1.50
1.00
1.00
1.00
0.50
0.50
0.50
Price of
Ice-Cream
Cone
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Quantity of Ice-Cream Cones
Supply curve, S3
Decrease
in supply
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-004.indd 75
S Market
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Quantity of Ice-Cream Cones
Figure
Supply
curve, S1
7
Shifts in the Supply Curve
Supply
curve, S2
Increase
in supply
0
Market Supply as the Sum
of Individual Supplies
0 cones
0
1
4
7
10
13
Jerry's Supply
Price of
Ice-Cream
Cone
Quantity of Ice-Cream Cones
6
Market
$3.00
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Figure
75
Any change that raises the
quantity that sellers wish to
produce at any given price
shifts the supply curve to
the right. Any change that
lowers the quantity that
sellers wish to produce at
any given price shifts the
supply curve to the left.
Quantity of
Ice-Cream Cones
09/12/10 8:09 PM
76
PART II
HOW MARKETS WORK
ice cream is less profitable, and firms supply less ice cream. If input prices rise
substantially, a firm might shut down and supply no ice cream at all. Thus, the
supply of a good is negatively related to the price of the inputs used to make
the good.
Technology The technology for turning inputs into ice cream is another
determinant of supply. The invention of the mechanized ice-cream machine, for
example, reduced the amount of labor necessary to make ice cream. By reducing
firms’ costs, the advance in technology raised the supply of ice cream.
Expectations The amount of ice cream a firm supplies today may depend on
its expectations about the future. For example, if a firm expects the price of ice
cream to rise in the future, it will put some of its current production into storage
and supply less to the market today.
Number of Sellers In addition to the preceding factors, which influence the
behavior of individual sellers, market supply depends on the number of these
sellers. If Ben or Jerry were to retire from the ice-cream business, the supply in
the market would fall.
Summary The supply curve shows what happens to the quantity supplied
of a good when its price varies, holding constant all the other variables that
influence sellers. When one of these other variables changes, the supply curve
shifts. Table 2 lists the variables that influence how much producers choose to
sell of a good.
Once again, to remember whether you need to shift or move along the supply
curve, keep in mind that a curve shifts only when there is a change in a relevant
variable that is not named on either axis. The price is on the vertical axis, so a
change in price represents a movement along the supply curve. By contrast,
because input prices, technology, expectations, and the number of sellers are
not measured on either axis, a change in one of these variables shifts the supply
curve.
QUICK QUIZ Make up an example of a monthly supply schedule for pizza and graph
the implied supply curve. • Give an example of something that would shift this supply
curve, and briefly explain your reasoning. • Would a change in the price of pizza shift
this supply curve?
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-004.indd 76
Variable
A Change in This Variable . . .
Price of the good itself
Input prices
Technology
Expectations
Number of sellers
Represents a movement along the supply curve
Shifts the supply curve
Shifts the supply curve
Shifts the supply curve
Shifts the supply curve
09/12/10 8:10 PM
CHAPTER 4
THE MARKET FORCES OF SUPPLY AND DEMAND
77
Supply and Demand Together
Having analyzed supply and demand separately, we now combine them to see
how they determine the price and quantity of a good sold in a market.
Equilibrium
Figure 8 shows the market supply curve and market demand curve together.
Notice that there is one point at which the supply and demand curves intersect.
This point is called the market’s equilibrium. The price at this intersection is
called the equilibrium price, and the quantity is called the equilibrium quantity.
Here the equilibrium price is $2.00 per cone, and the equilibrium quantity is 7 icecream cones.
The dictionary defines the word equilibrium as a situation in which various
forces are in balance—and this also describes a market’s equilibrium. At the equilibrium price, the quantity of the good that buyers are willing and able to buy exactly
balances the quantity that sellers are willing and able to sell. The equilibrium price is
sometimes called the market-clearing price because, at this price, everyone in the
market has been satisfied: Buyers have bought all they want to buy, and sellers
have sold all they want to sell.
The actions of buyers and sellers naturally move markets toward the equilibrium of supply and demand. To see why, consider what happens when the market price is not equal to the equilibrium price.
Suppose first that the market price is above the equilibrium price, as in panel (a)
of Figure 9. At a price of $2.50 per cone, the quantity of the good supplied (10 cones)
exceeds the quantity demanded (4 cones). There is a surplus of the good: Suppliers
are unable to sell all they want at the going price. A surplus is sometimes called a
situation of excess supply. When there is a surplus in the ice-cream market, sellers
of ice cream find their freezers increasingly full of ice cream they would like to sell
Supply
Equilibrium
$2.00
Demand
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Equilibrium
quantity
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-004.indd 77
a situation in which
the market price has
reached the level at which
quantity supplied equals
quantity demanded
equilibrium price
the price that balances
quantity supplied and
quantity demanded
equilibrium
quantity
the quantity supplied and
the quantity demanded
at the equilibrium price
surplus
a situation in which
quantity supplied is
greater than quantity
demanded
Figure
Price of
Ice-Cream
Cone
Equilibrium
price
equilibrium
8
9
8
The Equilibrium of Supply
and Demand
The equilibrium is found
where the supply and
demand curves intersect. At
the equilibrium price, the
quantity supplied equals
the quantity demanded.
Here the equilibrium price
is $2.00: At this price, 7 icecream cones are supplied,
and 7 ice-cream cones are
demanded.
10 11 12 13
Quantity of Ice-Cream Cones
09/12/10 8:10 PM
78
PART II
Figure
HOW MARKETS WORK
9
In panel (a), there is a surplus. Because the market price of $2.50 is above the
equilibrium price, the quantity supplied (10 cones) exceeds the quantity demanded
(4 cones). Suppliers try to increase sales by cutting the price of a cone, and this moves
the price toward its equilibrium level. In panel (b), there is a shortage. Because the
market price of $1.50 is below the equilibrium price, the quantity demanded (10
cones) exceeds the quantity supplied (4 cones). With too many buyers chasing too few
goods, suppliers can take advantage of the shortage by raising the price. Hence, in
both cases, the price adjustment moves the market toward the equilibrium of supply
and demand.
Markets Not in Equilibrium
(b) Excess Demand
(a) Excess Supply
Price of
Ice-Cream
Cone
Supply
Surplus
Price of
Ice-Cream
Cone
Supply
$2.50
$2.00
2.00
1.50
Shortage
Demand
Demand
0
4
Quantity
demanded
shortage
a situation in which
quantity demanded is
greater than quantity
supplied
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-004.indd 78
7
10
Quantity
supplied
Quantity of
Ice-Cream
Cones
0
4
Quantity
supplied
7
10
Quantity
demanded
Quantity of
Ice-Cream
Cones
but cannot. They respond to the surplus by cutting their prices. Falling prices, in
turn, increase the quantity demanded and decrease the quantity supplied. These
changes represent movements along the supply and demand curves, not shifts in
the curves. Prices continue to fall until the market reaches the equilibrium.
Suppose now that the market price is below the equilibrium price, as in panel
(b) of Figure 9. In this case, the price is $1.50 per cone, and the quantity of the
good demanded exceeds the quantity supplied. There is a shortage of the good:
Demanders are unable to buy all they want at the going price. A shortage is sometimes called a situation of excess demand. When a shortage occurs in the ice-cream
market, buyers have to wait in long lines for a chance to buy one of the few cones
available. With too many buyers chasing too few goods, sellers can respond to the
shortage by raising their prices without losing sales. These price increases cause
the quantity demanded to fall and the quantity supplied to rise. Once again, these
changes represent movements along the supply and demand curves, and they
move the market toward the equilibrium.
Thus, regardless of whether the price starts off too high or too low, the activities of the many buyers and sellers automatically push the market price toward
the equilibrium price. Once the market reaches its equilibrium, all buyers and
sellers are satisfied, and there is no upward or downward pressure on the price.
How quickly equilibrium is reached varies from market to market depending
on how quickly prices adjust. In most free markets, surpluses and shortages are
only temporary because prices eventually move toward their equilibrium levels.
09/12/10 8:10 PM
THE MARKET FORCES OF SUPPLY AND DEMAND
79
NON SEQUITUR © WILEY MILLER. REPRINTED
WITH PERMISSION OF UNIVERSAL UCLICK.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
CHAPTER 4
Indeed, this phenomenon is so pervasive that it is called the law of supply and
demand: The price of any good adjusts to bring the quantity supplied and quantity demanded for that good into balance.
Three Steps to Analyzing Changes in Equilibrium
So far, we have seen how supply and demand together determine a market’s equilibrium, which in turn determines the price and quantity of the good that buyers
purchase and sellers produce. The equilibrium price and quantity depend on the
position of the supply and demand curves. When some event shifts one of these
curves, the equilibrium in the market changes, resulting in a new price and a new
quantity exchanged between buyers and sellers.
When analyzing how some event affects the equilibrium in a market, we proceed
in three steps. First, we decide whether the event shifts the supply curve, the demand
curve, or, in some cases, both curves. Second, we decide whether the curve shifts to
the right or to the left. Third, we use the supply-and-demand diagram to compare
the initial and the new equilibrium, which shows how the shift affects the equilibrium price and quantity. Table 3 summarizes these three steps. To see how this recipe
is used, let’s consider various events that might affect the market for ice cream.
law of supply and
demand
the claim that the price of
any good adjusts to bring
the quantity supplied and
the quantity demanded
for that good into balance
Example: A Change in Market Equilibrium Due to a Shift in Demand
Suppose that one summer the weather is very hot. How does this event affect the
market for ice cream? To answer this question, let’s follow our three steps.
1. The hot weather affects the demand curve by changing people’s taste for
ice cream. That is, the weather changes the amount of ice cream that people
want to buy at any given price. The supply curve is unchanged because the
weather does not directly affect the firms that sell ice cream.
2. Because hot weather makes people want to eat more ice cream, the demand
curve shifts to the right. Figure 10 shows this increase in demand as the shift
in the demand curve from D1 to D2. This shift indicates that the quantity of
ice cream demanded is higher at every price.
3. At the old price of $2, there is now an excess demand for ice cream, and this
shortage induces firms to raise the price. As Figure 10 shows, the increase in
demand raises the equilibrium price from $2.00 to $2.50 and the equilibrium
quantity from 7 to 10 cones. In other words, the hot weather increases the
price of ice cream and the quantity of ice cream sold.
Shifts in Curves versus Movements along Curves Notice that when hot
weather increases the demand for ice cream and drives up the price, the quantity
of ice cream that firms supply rises, even though the supply curve remains the
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-004.indd 79
Table
Three Steps for
Analyzing Changes in
Equilibrium
3
1. Decide whether the event
shifts the supply or demand
curve (or perhaps both).
2. Decide in which direction
the curve shifts.
3. Use the supply-and-demand
diagram to see how the
shift changes the equilibrium price and quantity.
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80
PART II
Figure
HOW MARKETS WORK
10
How an Increase in
Demand Affects the
Equilibrium
An event that raises quantity
demanded at any given price
shifts the demand curve to the
right. The equilibrium price
and the equilibrium quantity
both rise. Here an abnormally
hot summer causes buyers
to demand more ice cream.
The demand curve shifts
from D1 to D2, which causes
the equilibrium price to rise
from $2.00 to $2.50 and the
equilibrium quantity to rise
from 7 to 10 cones.
Price of
Ice-Cream
Cone
1. Hot weather increases the
demand for ice cream . . .
Supply
$2.50
New equilibrium
2.00
2. . . . resulting
in a higher
price . . .
Initial
equilibrium
D2
D1
0
7
3. . . . and a higher
quantity sold.
10
Quantity of
Ice-Cream Cones
same. In this case, economists say there has been an increase in “quantity supplied” but no change in “supply.”
Supply refers to the position of the supply curve, whereas the quantity supplied
refers to the amount suppliers wish to sell. In this example, supply does not change
because the weather does not alter firms’ desire to sell at any given price. Instead,
the hot weather alters consumers’ desire to buy at any given price and thereby
shifts the demand curve to the right. The increase in demand causes the equilibrium price to rise. When the price rises, the quantity supplied rises. This increase in
quantity supplied is represented by the movement along the supply curve.
To summarize, a shift in the supply curve is called a “change in supply,” and
a shift in the demand curve is called a “change in demand.” A movement along a
fixed supply curve is called a “change in the quantity supplied,” and a movement
along a fixed demand curve is called a “change in the quantity demanded.”
Example: A Change in Market Equilibrium Due to a Shift in Supply
Suppose that during another summer, a hurricane destroys part of the sugarcane
crop and drives up the price of sugar. How does this event affect the market for
ice cream? Once again, to answer this question, we follow our three steps.
1. The change in the price of sugar, an input for making ice cream, affects the
supply curve. By raising the costs of production, it reduces the amount of
ice cream that firms produce and sell at any given price. The demand curve
does not change because the higher cost of inputs does not directly affect the
amount of ice cream households wish to buy.
2. The supply curve shifts to the left because, at every price, the total amount
that firms are willing and able to sell is reduced. Figure 11 illustrates this
decrease in supply as a shift in the supply curve from S1 to S2.
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-004.indd 80
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CHAPTER 4
Price of
Ice-Cream
Cone
S2
THE MARKET FORCES OF SUPPLY AND DEMAND
1. An increase in the price of
sugar reduces the supply of
ice cream. . .
S1
New
equilibrium
$2.50
Initial equilibrium
2.00
2. . . . resulting
in a higher
price of ice
cream . . .
Demand
0
4
7
3. . . . and a lower
quantity sold.
Figure
81
11
How a Decrease in Supply
Affects the Equilibrium
An event that reduces quantity
supplied at any given price shifts
the supply curve to the left. The
equilibrium price rises, and the
equilibrium quantity falls. Here an
increase in the price of sugar (an
input) causes sellers to supply less
ice cream. The supply curve shifts
from S1 to S2, which causes the
equilibrium price of ice cream to
rise from $2.00 to $2.50 and the
equilibrium quantity to fall from
7 to 4 cones.
Quantity of
Ice-Cream Cones
3. At the old price of $2, there is now an excess demand for ice cream, and
this shortage causes firms to raise the price. As Figure 11 shows, the shift in
the supply curve raises the equilibrium price from $2.00 to $2.50 and lowers the equilibrium quantity from 7 to 4 cones. As a result of the sugar price
increase, the price of ice cream rises, and the quantity of ice cream sold falls.
Example: Shifts in Both Supply and Demand Now suppose that a heat
wave and a hurricane occur during the same summer. To analyze this combination of events, we again follow our three steps.
1. We determine that both curves must shift. The hot weather affects the
demand curve because it alters the amount of ice cream that households
want to buy at any given price. At the same time, when the hurricane drives
up sugar prices, it alters the supply curve for ice cream because it changes
the amount of ice cream that firms want to sell at any given price.
2. The curves shift in the same directions as they did in our previous analysis:
The demand curve shifts to the right, and the supply curve shifts to the left.
Figure 12 illustrates these shifts.
3. As Figure 12 shows, two possible outcomes might result depending on the
relative size of the demand and supply shifts. In both cases, the equilibrium
price rises. In panel (a), where demand increases substantially while supply
falls just a little, the equilibrium quantity also rises. By contrast, in panel (b),
where supply falls substantially while demand rises just a little, the equilibrium quantity falls. Thus, these events certainly raise the price of ice cream,
but their impact on the amount of ice cream sold is ambiguous (that is, it
could go either way).
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-004.indd 81
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82
PART II
Figure
HOW MARKETS WORK
12
Here we observe a simultaneous increase in demand and decrease in supply. Two
outcomes are possible. In panel (a), the equilibrium price rises from P1 to P2, and the
equilibrium quantity rises from Q1 to Q2. In panel (b), the equilibrium price again rises
from P1 to P2, but the equilibrium quantity falls from Q1 to Q2.
A Shift in Both Supply
and Demand
(b) Price Rises, Quantity Falls
(a) Price Rises, Quantity Rises
Price of
Ice-Cream Large
Cone increase in
demand
Price of
Ice-Cream
Cone
New
equilibrium
S2
S2
Small
increase in
demand
S1
S1
P2
New
equilibrium
P2
P1
D2
Small
decrease
in supply
P1
Initial
equilibrium
Initial equilibrium
0
Q1
D1
Q2
Quantity of
Ice-Cream Cones
Large
decrease
in supply
0
D2
D1
Q2
Q1
Quantity of
Ice-Cream Cones
in the news
Price Increases after Disasters
For several days in 2010, many towns around Boston found themselves
without drinkable tap water. This increased the demand for bottled
water, putting upward pressure on the price. While some policymakers
cried foul, this opinion piece endorses the market’s natural response.
What’s Wrong with
Price Gouging?
BY JEFF JACOBY
T
here wasn’t much [Attorney General]
Martha Coakley could do about the massive
pipe break that left dozens of Greater Boston
towns without clean drinking water over the
weekend. So she kept herself busy instead
lecturing vendors not to increase the price of
the bottled water that tens of thousands of
consumers were suddenly in a frenzy to buy.
“We have begun hearing anecdotal
reports of the possible price gouging of
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-004.indd 82
store-bought water,’’ Coakley announced
Sunday. “Businesses and individuals cannot and should not take advantage of
this public emergency to unfairly charge
consumers . . . for water.’’ Inspectors were
being dispatched, “spot-checks’’ were being
conducted, and “if we discover that businesses
are engaging in price gouging,’’ she warned,
“we will take appropriate legal action.’’
Governor Deval Patrick got into the
act, too. He ordered the state’s Division of
Standards to “closely monitor bottled water
prices’’ in the area affected by the water
emergency. “There is never an excuse for
taking advantage of consumers,’’ he intoned,
“especially not during times like this.’’
It never fails. No sooner does some
calamity trigger an urgent need for basic
resources than self-righteous voices are
raised to denounce the amazingly efficient
system that stimulates suppliers to speed
those resources to the people who need
them. That system is the free market’s
price mechanism—the fluctuation of prices
because of changes in supply and demand.
When the demand for bottled water goes
through the roof—which is another way of
saying that bottled water has become (relatively) scarce—the price of water quickly rises
in response. That price spike may be annoying,
but it’s not nearly as annoying as being
unable to find water for sale at any price.
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CHAPTER 4
THE MARKET FORCES OF SUPPLY AND DEMAND
Table
No Change
in Supply
An Increase
in Supply
A Decrease
in Supply
in Demand
P same
Q same
P down
Q up
P up
Q down
An Increase
in Demand
P up
Q up
P ambiguous
Q up
P up
Q ambiguous
A Decrease
in Demand
P down
Q down
P down
Q ambiguous
P ambiguous
Q down
No Change
83
4
What Happens to Price and Quantity When
Supply or Demand Shifts?
As a quick quiz, make sure you can explain at
least a few of the entries in this table using a
supply-and-demand diagram.
© GYRO PHOTOGRAPHY/AMANAIMAGESRF/JUPITER IMAGES
Summary We have just seen three examples of how to use supply and demand
curves to analyze a change in equilibrium. Whenever an event shifts the supply
curve, the demand curve, or perhaps both curves, you can use these tools to predict how the event will alter the price and quantity sold in equilibrium. Table 4
shows the predicted outcome for any combination of shifts in the two curves. To
make sure you understand how to use the tools of supply and demand, pick a
Rising prices help keep limited quantities
from vanishing today, while increasing the
odds of fresh supplies arriving tomorrow.
It is easy to demonize vendors who
charge what the market will bear following a catastrophe. “After storm come the
vultures’’ USA Todayy memorably headlined a story about the price hikes that followed Hurricane Charley in Florida in 2004.
Coakley hasn’t called anybody a vulture, at
least not yet, but her office has dedicated
a telephone hotline and is encouraging the
public to drop a dime on “price gougers.’’
Before you drop that dime, though, consider who really serves the public interest—
the merchant who boosts his price during a
crisis, or the merchant who refuses to?
A thought experiment: A massive pipe
ruptures, tap water grows undrinkable, and
consumers rush to buy bottled water from
the only two vendors who sell it. Vendor
A, not wanting to annoy the governor
and attorney general, leaves the price of
his water unchanged at 69 cents a bottle.
Vendor B, who is more interested in doing
business than truckling to politicians, more
than quadruples his price to $2.99.
You don’t need an economics textbook
to know what happens next.
Customers descend on Vendor A in
droves, loading up on his 69-cent water.
Within hours his entire stock has been
cleaned out, and subsequent customers are
turned away empty-handed. At Vendor B’s,
on the other hand, sales of water are slower
and there is a lot of grumbling about the
high price. But even late-arriving customers
are able to buy the water they need—and
almost no one buys more than he truly
needs.
When demand intensifies, prices rise. And
as prices rise, suppliers work harder to meet
demand. The same Globe story that reported
yesterday on Coakley’s “price-gouging’’ statement reported as well on the lengths to which
bottlers and retailers were going to get more
water into customers’ hands.
“Suppliers worked overtime, pumping
up production at regional bottling facilities and coordinating deliveries,’’ reporter
Erin Ailworth noted. Polar Beverages in
Worcester, for example, “had emptied out
its plant in the city last night and trucked
in loads of water from its New York
facility.’’
Letting prices rise freely isn’t the only
possible response to a sudden shortage.
Government rationing is an option, and
so are price controls—assuming you don’t
object to the inevitable corruption, long
lines, and black market. Better by far to let
prices rise and fall freely. That isn’t “gouging,’’ but plain good sense—and the best
method yet devised for allocating goods and
services among free men and women.
A scarce resource.
Source: The Boston Globe, May 4, 2010.
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-004.indd 83
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PART II
HOW MARKETS WORK
few entries in this table and make sure you can explain to yourself why the table
contains the prediction it does.
QUICK QUIZ On the appropriate diagram, show what happens to the market for
pizza if the price of tomatoes rises. • On a separate diagram, show what happens to
the market for pizza if the price of hamburgers falls.
“Two dollars”
“—and seventy-five
cents.”
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-004.indd 84
This chapter has analyzed supply and demand in a single market. Although our
discussion has centered on the market for ice cream, the lessons learned here
apply in most other markets as well. Whenever you go to a store to buy something, you are contributing to the demand for that item. Whenever you look for
a job, you are contributing to the supply of labor services. Because supply and
demand are such pervasive economic phenomena, the model of supply and
demand is a powerful tool for analysis. We will be using this model repeatedly
in the following chapters.
One of the Ten Principles of Economics discussed in Chapter 1 is that markets are
usually a good way to organize economic activity. Although it is still too early to
judge whether market outcomes are good or bad, in this chapter we have begun
to see how markets work. In any economic system, scarce resources have to be
allocated among competing uses. Market economies harness the forces of supply
and demand to serve that end. Supply and demand together determine the prices
of the economy’s many different goods and services; prices in turn are the signals
that guide the allocation of resources.
For example, consider the allocation of beachfront land. Because the amount of
this land is limited, not everyone can enjoy the luxury of living by the beach. Who
gets this resource? The answer is whoever is willing and able to pay the price. The
price of beachfront land adjusts until the quantity of land demanded exactly balances the quantity supplied. Thus, in market economies, prices are the mechanism
for rationing scarce resources.
Similarly, prices determine who produces each good and how much is produced. For instance, consider farming. Because we need food to survive, it is
crucial that some people work on farms. What determines who is a farmer and
who is not? In a free society, there is no government planning agency making
this decision and ensuring an adequate supply of food. Instead, the allocation
of workers to farms is based on the job decisions of millions of workers. This
decentralized system works well because these decisions depend on prices. The
prices of food and the wages of farmworkers (the price of their labor) adjust to
ensure that enough people choose to be farmers.
If a person had never seen a market economy in action, the whole idea might
seem preposterous. Economies are enormous groups of people engaged in a
multitude of interdependent activities. What prevents decentralized decision
making from degenerating into chaos? What coordinates the actions of the millions of people with their varying abilities and desires? What ensures that what
needs to be done is in fact done? The answer, in a word, is prices. If an invisible
hand guides market economies, as Adam Smith famously suggested, then the
price system is the baton that the invisible hand uses to conduct the economic
orchestra.
© ROBERT DAY. THE NEW YORKER
COLLECTION/ WWW.CARTOONBANK.COM
Conclusion: How Prices Allocate Resources
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CHAPTER 4
THE MARKET FORCES OF SUPPLY AND DEMAND
85
SUMMARY
• Economists use the model of supply and demand • The intersection of the supply and demand
to analyze competitive markets. In a competitive
market, there are many buyers and sellers, each
of whom has little or no influence on the market
price.
• The demand curve shows how the quantity of a
good demanded depends on the price. According
to the law of demand, as the price of a good falls,
the quantity demanded rises. Therefore, the
demand curve slopes downward.
• In addition to price, other determinants of how
much consumers want to buy include income,
the prices of substitutes and complements,
tastes, expectations, and the number of buyers. If one of these factors changes, the demand
curve shifts.
• The supply curve shows how the quantity of a
good supplied depends on the price. According
to the law of supply, as the price of a good rises,
the quantity supplied rises. Therefore, the supply
curve slopes upward.
• In addition to price, other determinants of how
much producers want to sell include input prices,
technology, expectations, and the number of sellers. If one of these factors changes, the supply
curve shifts.
curves determines the market equilibrium. At
the equilibrium price, the quantity demanded
equals the quantity supplied.
• The behavior of buyers and sellers naturally
drives markets toward their equilibrium. When
the market price is above the equilibrium price,
there is a surplus of the good, which causes the
market price to fall. When the market price is
below the equilibrium price, there is a shortage,
which causes the market price to rise.
• To analyze how any event influences a market, we use the supply-and-demand diagram to
examine how the event affects the equilibrium
price and quantity. To do this, we follow three
steps. First, we decide whether the event shifts
the supply curve or the demand curve (or both).
Second, we decide in which direction the curve
shifts. Third, we compare the new equilibrium
with the initial equilibrium.
• In market economies, prices are the signals that
guide economic decisions and thereby allocate
scarce resources. For every good in the economy,
the price ensures that supply and demand are in
balance. The equilibrium price then determines
how much of the good buyers choose to consume
and how much sellers choose to produce.
KEY CONC
C ONCEPTS
EPTS
market, p. 66
competitive market, p. 66
quantity demanded, p. 67
law of demand, p. 67
demand schedule, p. 67
demand curve, p. 68
normal good, p. 70
inferior good, p. 70
substitutes, p. 70
complements, p. 70
quantity supplied, p. 73
law of supply, p. 73
supply schedule, p. 73
supply curve, p. 73
equilibrium, p. 77
equilibrium price, p. 77
equilibrium quantity, p. 77
surplus, p. 77
shortage, p. 78
law of supply and
demand, p. 79
QUESTIONS FOR
FO R REVIEW
1. What is a competitive market? Briefly
describe a type of market that is not perfectly
competitive.
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-004.indd 85
2. What are the demand schedule and the demand
curve, and how are they related? Why does the
demand curve slope downward?
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PART II
HOW MARKETS WORK
3. Does a change in consumers’ tastes lead to a
movement along the demand curve or a shift in
the demand curve? Does a change in price lead
to a movement along the demand curve or a
shift in the demand curve?
4. Popeye’s income declines, and as a result, he
buys more spinach. Is spinach an inferior or
a normal good? What happens to Popeye’s
demand curve for spinach?
5. What are the supply schedule and the supply
curve, and how are they related? Why does the
supply curve slope upward?
6. Does a change in producers’ technology lead to
a movement along the supply curve or a shift in
the supply curve? Does a change in price lead to
a movement along the supply curve or a shift in
the supply curve?
7. Define the equilibrium of a market. Describe
the forces that move a market toward its
equilibrium.
8. Beer and pizza are complements because they
are often enjoyed together. When the price of
beer rises, what happens to the supply, demand,
quantity supplied, quantity demanded, and the
price in the market for pizza?
9. Describe the role of prices in market economies.
PROBLEMS
PRO
O BLEMS
S AND APPLICATIO
APPLICATIONS
C
O NS
S
1. Explain each of the following statements using
supply-and-demand diagrams.
a. “When a cold snap hits Florida, the price of
orange juice rises in supermarkets throughout the country.”
b. “When the weather turns warm in New
England every summer, the price of hotel
rooms in Caribbean resorts plummets.”
c. “When a war breaks out in the Middle East,
the price of gasoline rises, and the price of a
used Cadillac falls.”
2. “An increase in the demand for notebooks
raises the quantity of notebooks demanded but
not the quantity supplied.” Is this statement
true or false? Explain.
3. Consider the market for minivans. For each
of the events listed here, identify which of the
determinants of demand or supply are affected.
Also indicate whether demand or supply
increases or decreases. Then draw a diagram
to show the effect on the price and quantity of
minivans.
a. People decide to have more children.
b. A strike by steelworkers raises steel prices.
c. Engineers develop new automated machinery for the production of minivans.
d. The price of sports utility vehicles rises.
e. A stock-market crash lowers people’s wealth.
4. Consider the markets for DVDs, TV screens,
and tickets at movie theaters.
a. For each pair, identify whether they are
complements or substitutes:
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-004.indd 86
• DVDs and TV screens
• DVDs and movie tickets
• TV screens and movie tickets
b. Suppose a technological advance reduces the
cost of manufacturing TV screens. Draw a
diagram to show what happens in the market
for TV screens.
c. Draw two more diagrams to show how the
change in the market for TV screens affects
the markets for DVDs and movie tickets.
5. Over the past 30 years, technological advances
have reduced the cost of computer chips. How
do you think this has affected the market
for computers? For computer software? For
typewriters?
6. Using supply-and-demand diagrams, show the
effect of the following events on the market for
sweatshirts.
a. A hurricane in South Carolina damages the
cotton crop.
b. The price of leather jackets falls.
c. All colleges require morning exercise in
appropriate attire.
d. New knitting machines are invented.
7. A survey shows an increase in drug use by
young people. In the ensuing debate, two
hypotheses are proposed:
• Reduced police efforts have increased the
availability of drugs on the street.
• Cutbacks in education efforts have
decreased awareness of the dangers of drug
addiction.
09/12/10 8:10 PM
CHAPTER 4
a Use supply-and-demand diagrams to show
how each of these hypotheses could lead to
an increase in quantity of drugs consumed.
b How could information on what has happened to the price of drugs help us to distinguish between these explanations?
8. Suppose that in the year 2015 the number of
births is temporarily high. How does this baby
boom affect the price of babysitting services in
2020 and 2030? (Hint: 5-year-olds need babysitters, whereas 15-year-olds can be babysitters.)
9. Ketchup is a complement (as well as a condiment) for hot dogs. If the price of hot dogs rises,
what happens to the market for ketchup? For
tomatoes? For tomato juice? For orange juice?
10. The market for pizza has the following demand
and supply schedules:
Price
Quantity Demanded
Quantity Supplied
$4
5
6
7
8
9
135 pizzas
104
81
68
53
39
26 pizzas
53
81
98
110
121
a. Graph the demand and supply curves. What
is the equilibrium price and quantity in this
market?
b. If the actual price in this market were above
the equilibrium price, what would drive the
market toward the equilibrium?
c. If the actual price in this market were below
the equilibrium price, what would drive the
market toward the equilibrium?
11. Consider the following events: Scientists reveal
that consumption of oranges decreases the risk
of diabetes, and at the same time, farmers use
a new fertilizer that makes orange trees more
productive. Illustrate and explain what effect
these changes have on the equilibrium price and
quantity of oranges.
12. Because bagels and cream cheese are often eaten
together, they are complements.
a. We observe that both the equilibrium price of
cream cheese and the equilibrium quantity of
bagels have risen. What could be responsible
for this pattern—a fall in the price of flour
or a fall in the price of milk? Illustrate and
explain your answer.
b. Suppose instead that the equilibrium
price of cream cheese has risen but the
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-004.indd 87
THE MARKET FORCES OF SUPPLY AND DEMAND
87
equilibrium quantity of bagels has fallen.
What could be responsible for this pattern—
a rise in the price of flour or a rise in the
price of milk? Illustrate and explain your
answer.
13. Suppose that the price of basketball tickets at
your college is determined by market forces.
Currently, the demand and supply schedules
are as follows:
Price
$ 4
8
12
16
20
Quantity Demanded
10,000 tickets
8,000
6,000
4,000
2,000
Quantity Supplied
8,000 tickets
8,000
8,000
8,000
8,000
a. Draw the demand and supply curves. What
is unusual about this supply curve? Why
might this be true?
b. What are the equilibrium price and quantity
of tickets?
c. Your college plans to increase total enrollment next year by 5,000 students. The
additional students will have the following
demand schedule:
Price
Quantity Demanded
$ 4
8
12
16
20
4,000 tickets
3,000
2,000
1,000
0
Now add the old demand schedule and the
demand schedule for the new students to
calculate the new demand schedule for the
entire college. What will be the new equilibrium price and quantity?
14. Market research has revealed the following
information about the market for chocolate bars:
The demand schedule can be represented by
the equation QD = 1,600 – 300P, where QD is the
quantity demanded and P is the price. The supply schedule can be represented by the equation
QS = 1,400 + 700P, where QS is the quantity supplied. Calculate the equilibrium price and quantity in the market for chocolate bars.
For further information on topics in this chapter,
additional problems, applications, examples, online
quizzes, and more, please visit our website at www
.cengage.com/economics/mankiw.
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Application
5
I
magine that some event drives up the price of gasoline in the United States.
It could be a war in the Middle East that disrupts the world supply of oil, a
booming Chinese economy that boosts the world demand for oil, or a new
tax on gasoline passed by Congress. How would U.S. consumers respond to
the higher price?
It is easy to answer this question in broad fashion: Consumers would buy less.
That is simply the law of demand we learned in the previous chapter But you
might want a precise answer. By how much would consumption of gasoline fall?
This question can be answered using a concept called elasticity, which we develop
in this chapter.
Elasticity is a measure of how much buyers and sellers respond to changes in
market conditions. When studying how some event or policy affects a market,
we can discuss not only the direction of the effects but their magnitude as well.
Elasticity is useful in many applications, as we see toward the end of this chapter.
89
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Before proceeding, however, you might be curious about the answer to the
gasoline question. Many studies have examined consumers’ response to gasoline
prices, and they typically find that the quantity demanded responds more in the
long run than it does in the short run. A 10 percent increase in gasoline prices
reduces gasoline consumption by about 2.5 percent after a year and about 6 percent
after five years. About half of the long-run reduction in quantity demanded arises
because people drive less and half arises because they switch to more fuel-efficient
cars. Both responses are reflected in the demand curve and its elasticity.
The Elasticity of Demand
elasticity
a measure of the responsiveness of quantity
demanded or quantity
supplied to a change in
one of its determinants
When we introduced demand in Chapter 4, we noted that consumers usually buy
more of a good when its price is lower, when their incomes are higher, when the
prices of substitutes for the good are higher, or when the prices of complements of
the good are lower. Our discussion of demand was qualitative, not quantitative.
That is, we discussed the direction in which quantity demanded moves but not the
size of the change. To measure how much consumers respond to changes in these
variables, economists use the concept of elasticity.
The Price Elasticity of Demand and Its Determinants
price elasticity of
demand
a measure of how much
the quantity demanded
of a good responds to
a change in the price of
that good, computed as
the percentage change
in quantity demanded
divided by the percentage
change in price
The law of demand states that a fall in the price of a good raises the quantity
demanded. The price elasticity of demand measures how much the quantity
demanded responds to a change in price. Demand for a good is said to be elastic if the
quantity demanded responds substantially to changes in the price. Demand is said to
be inelastic if the quantity demanded responds only slightly to changes in the price.
The price elasticity of demand for any good measures how willing consumers
are to buy less of the good as its price rises. Because the demand curve reflects
the many economic, social, and psychological forces that shape consumer preferences, there is no simple, universal rule for what determines the demand curve’s
elasticity. Based on experience, however, we can state some rules-of-thumb about
what influences the price elasticity of demand.
Availability of Close Substitutes Goods with close substitutes tend to have
more elastic demand because it is easier for consumers to switch from that good to
others. For example, butter and margarine are easily substitutable. A small increase
in the price of butter, assuming the price of margarine is held fixed, causes the quantity of butter sold to fall by a large amount. By contrast, because eggs are a food without a close substitute, the demand for eggs is less elastic than the demand for butter.
Necessities versus Luxuries Necessities tend to have inelastic demands, whereas
luxuries have elastic demands. When the price of a doctor’s visit rises, people will not
dramatically reduce the number of times they go to the doctor, although they might
go somewhat less often. By contrast, when the price of sailboats rises, the quantity
of sailboats demanded falls substantially. The reason is that most people view doctor visits as a necessity and sailboats as a luxury. Whether a good is a necessity or a
luxury depends not on the intrinsic properties of the good but on the preferences of
the buyer. For avid sailors with little concern over their health, sailboats might be a
necessity with inelastic demand and doctor visits a luxury with elastic demand.
Definition of the Market The elasticity of demand in any market depends on
how we draw the boundaries of the market. Narrowly defined markets tend to have
more elastic demand than broadly defined markets because it is easier to find close
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91
substitutes for narrowly defined goods. For example, food, a broad category, has a
fairly inelastic demand because there are no good substitutes for food. Ice cream, a
narrower category, has a more elastic demand because it is easy to substitute other
desserts for ice cream. Vanilla ice cream, a very narrow category, has a very elastic
demand because other flavors of ice cream are almost perfect substitutes for vanilla.
Time Horizon Goods tend to have more elastic demand over longer time horizons. When the price of gasoline rises, the quantity of gasoline demanded falls only
slightly in the first few months. Over time, however, people buy more fuel-efficient
cars, switch to public transportation, and move closer to where they work. Within
several years, the quantity of gasoline demanded falls more substantially.
Computing the Price Elasticity of Demand
Now that we have discussed the price elasticity of demand in general terms, let’s
be more precise about how it is measured. Economists compute the price elasticity of demand as the percentage change in the quantity demanded divided by
the percentage change in the price. That is,
Price elasticity of demand Percentage change in quantity demanded
.
Percentage change in price
For example, suppose that a 10 percent increase in the price of an ice-cream cone
causes the amount of ice cream you buy to fall by 20 percent. We calculate your
elasticity of demand as
Price elasticity of demand 20 percent
2.
10 percent
In this example, the elasticity is 2, reflecting that the change in the quantity
demanded is proportionately twice as large as the change in the price.
Because the quantity demanded of a good is negatively related to its price, the
percentage change in quantity will always have the opposite sign as the percentage change in price. In this example, the percentage change in price is a positive 10
percent (reflecting an increase), and the percentage change in quantity demanded
is a negative 20 percent (reflecting a decrease). For this reason, price elasticities of
demand are sometimes reported as negative numbers. In this book, we follow the
common practice of dropping the minus sign and reporting all price elasticities of
demand as positive numbers. (Mathematicians call this the absolute value.) With
this convention, a larger price elasticity implies a greater responsiveness of quantity demanded to changes in price.
The Midpoint Method: A Better Way to Calculate
Percentage Changes and Elasticities
If you try calculating the price elasticity of demand between two points on a
demand curve, you will quickly notice an annoying problem: The elasticity from
point A to point B seems different from the elasticity from point B to point A. For
example, consider these numbers:
Point A:
Point B:
Price $4
Price $6
Quantity 120
Quantity 80
Going from point A to point B, the price rises by 50 percent, and the quantity falls by
33 percent, indicating that the price elasticity of demand is 33/50, or 0.66. By contrast,
going from point B to point A, the price falls by 33 percent, and the quantity rises
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by 50 percent, indicating that the price elasticity of demand is 50/33, or 1.5. This difference arises because the percentage changes are calculated from a different base.
One way to avoid this problem is to use the midpoint method for calculating
elasticities. The standard procedure for computing a percentage change is to
divide the change by the initial level. By contrast, the midpoint method computes
a percentage change by dividing the change by the midpoint (or average) of the
initial and final levels. For instance, $5 is the midpoint between $4 and $6. Therefore, according to the midpoint method, a change from $4 to $6 is considered a
40 percent rise because (6 4) / 5 100 40. Similarly, a change from $6 to $4
is considered a 40 percent fall.
Because the midpoint method gives the same answer regardless of the direction of change, it is often used when calculating the price elasticity of demand
between two points. In our example, the midpoint between point A and point B is:
Midpoint:
Price = $5
Quantity = 100
According to the midpoint method, when going from point A to point B, the price
rises by 40 percent, and the quantity falls by 40 percent. Similarly, when going
from point B to point A, the price falls by 40 percent, and the quantity rises by 40
percent. In both directions, the price elasticity of demand equals 1.
The following formula expresses the midpoint method for calculating the price
elasticity of demand between two points, denoted (Q1, P1) and (Q2, P2):
Price elasticity of demand (Q2 Q1) / [(Q2 Q1) / 2]
.
(P2 P1) / [(P2 P1) / 2]
The numerator is the percentage change in quantity computed using the midpoint
method, and the denominator is the percentage change in price computed using
the midpoint method. If you ever need to calculate elasticities, you should use
this formula.
In this book, however, we rarely perform such calculations. For most of our
purposes, what elasticity represents—the responsiveness of quantity demanded
to a change in price—is more important than how it is calculated.
The Variety of Demand Curves
Economists classify demand curves according to their elasticity. Demand is considered elastic when the elasticity is greater than 1, which means the quantity
moves proportionately more than the price. Demand is considered inelastic when
the elasticity is less than 1, which means the quantity moves proportionately less
than the price. If the elasticity is exactly 1, the quantity moves the same amount
proportionately as the price, and demand is said to have unit elasticity.
Because the price elasticity of demand measures how much quantity demanded
responds to changes in the price, it is closely related to the slope of the demand
curve. The following rule of thumb is a useful guide: The flatter the demand curve
that passes through a given point, the greater the price elasticity of demand. The
steeper the demand curve that passes through a given point, the smaller the price
elasticity of demand.
Figure 1 shows five cases. In the extreme case of a zero elasticity, shown in
panel (a), demand is perfectly inelastic, and the demand curve is vertical. In this
case, regardless of the price, the quantity demanded stays the same. As the elasticity
rises, the demand curve gets flatter and flatter, as shown in panels (b), (c), and (d).
At the opposite extreme, shown in panel (e), demand is perfectly elastic. This
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The Price Elasticity of Demand
Figure
The price elasticity of demand determines whether the demand curve is steep or flat.
Note that all percentage changes are calculated using the midpoint method.
93
1
(b) Inelastic Demand: Elasticity Is Less Than 1
(a) Perfectly Inelastic Demand: Elasticity Equals 0
Price
Price
Demand
$5
$5
4
4
1. An
increase
in price . . .
Demand
1. A 22%
increase
in price . . .
0
100
90
0
Quantity
100
Quantity
2. . . . leads to an 11% decrease in quantity demanded.
2. . . . leaves the quantity demanded unchanged.
(c) Unit Elastic Demand: Elasticity Equals 1
Price
$5
4
Demand
1. A 22%
increase
in price . . .
80
0
Quantity
100
2. . . . leads to a 22% decrease in quantity demanded.
(e) Perfectly Elastic Demand: Elasticity Equals Infinity
(d) Elastic Demand: Elasticity Is Greater Than 1
Price
Price
1. At any price
above $4, quantity
demanded is zero.
$5
4
Demand
$4
1. A 22%
increase
in price . . .
2. At exactly $4,
consumers will
buy any quantity.
0
50
100
Quantity
2. . . . leads to a 67% decrease in quantity demanded.
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-005.indd 93
Demand
0
3. At a price below $4,
quantity demanded is infinite.
Quantity
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FYI
A Few Elasticities from the Real World
W
e have talked about what elasticity means, what determines
it, and how it is calculated. Beyond these general ideas, you
might ask for a specific number. How much, precisely, does the price
of a particular good influence the quantity demanded?
To answer such a question, economists collect data from market
outcomes and apply statistical techniques to estimate the price
elasticity of demand. Here are some price elasticities of demand,
obtained from various studies, for a range of goods:
Eggs
Healthcare
Rice
Housing
Beef
Restaurant Meals
Mountain Dew
0.1
0.2
0.5
0.7
1.6
2.3
4.4
These kinds of numbers are fun to think about, and they can be
useful when comparing markets.
Nonetheless, one should take these estimates with a grain of
salt. One reason is that the statistical techniques used to obtain
them require some assumptions about the world, and these
assumptions might not be true in practice. (The details of these
techniques are beyond the scope of this book, but you will encounter them if you take a course in econometrics.) Another reason is
that the price elasticity of demand need not be the same at all
points on a demand curve, as we will see shortly in the case of a
linear demand curve. For both reasons, you should not be surprised
if different studies report different price elasticities of demand for
the same good.
occurs as the price elasticity of demand approaches infinity and the demand curve
becomes horizontal, reflecting the fact that very small changes in the price lead to
huge changes in the quantity demanded.
Finally, if you have trouble keeping straight the terms elastic and inelastic, here’s
a memory trick for you: Inelastic curves, such as in panel (a) of Figure 1, look like
the letter I. This is not a deep insight, but it might help on your next exam.
Total Revenue and the Price Elasticity of Demand
total revenue
the amount paid by
buyers and received
by sellers of a good,
computed as the price
of the good times the
quantity sold
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-005.indd 94
When studying changes in supply or demand in a market, one variable we often
want to study is total revenue, the amount paid by buyers and received by sellers
of the good. In any market, total revenue is P Q, the price of the good times the
quantity of the good sold. We can show total revenue graphically, as in Figure 2.
The height of the box under the demand curve is P, and the width is Q. The area
of this box, P Q, equals the total revenue in this market. In Figure 2, where
P = $4 and Q = 100, total revenue is $4 100, or $400.
How does total revenue change as one moves along the demand curve? The
answer depends on the price elasticity of demand. If demand is inelastic, as in panel
(a) of Figure 3, then an increase in the price causes an increase in total revenue. Here
an increase in price from $4 to $5 causes the quantity demanded to fall from 100 to
90, so total revenue rises from $400 to $450. An increase in price raises P Q because
the fall in Q is proportionately smaller than the rise in P. In other words, the extra
revenue from selling units at a higher price (represented by area A in the figure) more
than offsets the decline in revenue from selling fewer units (represented by area B).
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CHAPTER 5
ELASTICITY AND ITS APPLICATION
Figure
Price
95
2
Total Revenue
The total amount paid by buyers, and
received as revenue by sellers, equals
the area of the box under the demand
curve, P Q. Here, at a price of $4, the
quantity demanded is 100, and total
revenue is $400.
$4
P Q $400
(revenue)
P
Demand
0
Quantity
100
Q
The impact of a price change on total revenue (the product of price and quantity)
depends on the elasticity of demand. In panel (a), the demand curve is inelastic. In
this case, an increase in the price leads to a decrease in quantity demanded that is
proportionately smaller, so total revenue increases. Here an increase in the price from
$4 to $5 causes the quantity demanded to fall from 100 to 90. Total revenue rises from
$400 to $450. In panel (b), the demand curve is elastic. In this case, an increase in the
price leads to a decrease in quantity demanded that is proportionately larger, so total
revenue decreases. Here an increase in the price from $4 to $5 causes the quantity
demanded to fall from 100 to 70. Total revenue falls from $400 to $350.
(a) The Case of Inelastic Demand
Figure
3
How Total Revenue
Changes When Price
Changes
(b) The Case of Elastic Demand
2. . . . the extra revenue from
selling at a higher price. . .
Price
Price
1. When the demand
curve is inelastic. . .
2. . . . the extra revenue from
selling at a higher price. . .
$5
1. When the demand
curve is elastic. . .
$5
A
A
$4
$4
Demand
B
0
90 100
Quantity
3. . . . is greater than the lost revenue
from selling fewer units.
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-005.indd 95
B
Demand
0
70
100
Quantity
3. . . . is less than the lost revenue
from selling fewer units.
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PART II
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We obtain the opposite result if demand is elastic: An increase in the price
causes a decrease in total revenue. In panel (b) of Figure 3, for instance, when the
price rises from $4 to $5, the quantity demanded falls from 100 to 70, so total revenue falls from $400 to $350. Because demand is elastic, the reduction in the quantity demanded is so great that it more than offsets the increase in the price. That is,
an increase in price reduces P Q because the fall in Q is proportionately greater
than the rise in P. In this case, the extra revenue from selling units at a higher price
(area A) is smaller than the decline in revenue from selling fewer units (area B).
The examples in this figure illustrate some general rules:
• When demand is inelastic (a price elasticity less than 1), price and total
revenue move in the same direction.
• When demand is elastic (a price elasticity greater than 1), price and total
revenue move in opposite directions.
• If demand is unit elastic (a price elasticity exactly equal to 1), total revenue
remains constant when the price changes.
Elasticity and Total Revenue along a Linear
Demand Curve
Let’s examine how elasticity varies along a linear demand curve, as shown in
Figure 4. We know that a straight line has a constant slope. Slope is defined as
Figure
4
Price
Elasticity is
larger
than 1.
$7
Elasticity of a Linear Demand Curve
The slope of a linear demand curve is constant, but its elasticity
is not. The demand schedule in the table was used to calculate
the price elasticity of demand by the midpoint method. At points
with a low price and high quantity, the demand curve is inelastic.
At points with a high price and low quantity, the demand curve
is elastic.
6
5
Elasticity is
smaller
than 1.
4
3
2
1
0
Price
Quantity
Total Revenue
(Price × Quantity)
$7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
$ 0
12
20
24
24
20
12
0
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-005.indd 96
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
Quantity
Percentage
Change
in Price
Percentage
Change
in Quantity
Elasticity
Description
15
18
22
29
40
67
200
200
67
40
29
22
18
15
13.0
3.7
1.8
1.0
0.6
0.3
0.1
Elastic
Elastic
Elastic
Unit elastic
Inelastic
Inelastic
Inelastic
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97
“rise over run,” which here is the ratio of the change in price (“rise”) to the change
in quantity (“run”). This particular demand curve’s slope is constant because each
$1 increase in price causes the same two-unit decrease in the quantity demanded.
Even though the slope of a linear demand curve is constant, the elasticity is not.
This is true because the slope is the ratio of changes in the two variables, whereas
the elasticity is the ratio of percentage changes in the two variables. You can see
this by looking at the table in Figure 4, which shows the demand schedule for the
linear demand curve in the graph. The table uses the midpoint method to calculate the price elasticity of demand. At points with a low price and high quantity,
the demand curve is inelastic. At points with a high price and low quantity, the
demand curve is elastic.
The table also presents total revenue at each point on the demand curve. These
numbers illustrate the relationship between total revenue and elasticity. When the
price is $1, for instance, demand is inelastic, and a price increase to $2 raises total
revenue. When the price is $5, demand is elastic, and a price increase to $6 reduces
total revenue. Between $3 and $4, demand is exactly unit elastic, and total revenue
is the same at these two prices.
The linear demand curve illustrates that the price elasticity of demand need not
be the same at all points on a demand curve. A constant elasticity is possible, but
it is not always the case.
Other Demand Elasticities
In addition to the price elasticity of demand, economists use other elasticities to
describe the behavior of buyers in a market.
The Income Elasticity of Demand The income elasticity of demand measures how the quantity demanded changes as consumer income changes. It is
calculated as the percentage change in quantity demanded divided by the percentage change in income. That is,
Income elasticity of demand =
Percentage change in quantity demanded
.
Percentage change in income
As we discussed in Chapter 4, most goods are normal goods: Higher income raises
the quantity demanded. Because quantity demanded and income move in the
same direction, normal goods have positive income elasticities. A few goods, such
as bus rides, are inferior goods: Higher income lowers the quantity demanded.
Because quantity demanded and income move in opposite directions, inferior
goods have negative income elasticities.
Even among normal goods, income elasticities vary substantially in size.
Necessities, such as food and clothing, tend to have small income elasticities
because consumers choose to buy some of these goods even when their incomes
are low. Luxuries, such as caviar and diamonds, tend to have large income elasticities because consumers feel that they can do without these goods altogether if
their incomes are too low.
The Cross-Price Elasticity of Demand The cross-price elasticity of demand
measures how the quantity demanded of one good responds to a change in the price
of another good. It is calculated as the percentage change in quantity demanded of
good 1 divided by the percentage change in the price of good 2. That is,
Cross-price elasticity of demand =
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-005.indd 97
Percentage change in quantity demanded of good 1
.
Percentage change in the price of good 2
income elasticity
of demand
a measure of how much
the quantity demanded
of a good responds to
a change in consumers’
income, computed as
the percentage change
in quantity demanded
divided by the percentage
change in income
cross-price elasticity
of demand
a measure of how much
the quantity demanded
of one good responds to
a change in the price of
another good, computed as
the percentage change in
quantity demanded of the
first good divided by the
percentage change in the
price of the second good
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Whether the cross-price elasticity is a positive or negative number depends on
whether the two goods are substitutes or complements. As we discussed in Chapter
4, substitutes are goods that are typically used in place of one another, such as
hamburgers and hot dogs. An increase in hot dog prices induces people to grill
hamburgers instead. Because the price of hot dogs and the quantity of hamburgers
demanded move in the same direction, the cross-price elasticity is positive. Conversely, complements are goods that are typically used together, such as computers
and software. In this case, the cross-price elasticity is negative, indicating that an
increase in the price of computers reduces the quantity of software demanded.
QUICK QUIZ Define the price elasticity of demand. • Explain the relationship
between total revenue and the price elasticity of demand.
The Elasticity of Supply
When we introduced supply in Chapter 4, we noted that producers of a good offer to
sell more of it when the price of the good rises. To turn from qualitative to quantitative statements about quantity supplied, we once again use the concept of elasticity.
The Price Elasticity of Supply and Its Determinants
price elasticity of
supply
a measure of how much
the quantity supplied of
a good responds to a
change in the price of
that good, computed as
the percentage change in
quantity supplied divided
by the percentage change
in price
The law of supply states that higher prices raise the quantity supplied. The price
elasticity of supply measures how much the quantity supplied responds to
changes in the price. Supply of a good is said to be elastic if the quantity supplied
responds substantially to changes in the price. Supply is said to be inelastic if the
quantity supplied responds only slightly to changes in the price.
The price elasticity of supply depends on the flexibility of sellers to change the
amount of the good they produce. For example, beachfront land has an inelastic
supply because it is almost impossible to produce more of it. By contrast, manufactured goods, such as books, cars, and televisions, have elastic supplies because
firms that produce them can run their factories longer in response to a higher price.
In most markets, a key determinant of the price elasticity of supply is the time
period being considered. Supply is usually more elastic in the long run than in
the short run. Over short periods of time, firms cannot easily change the size of
their factories to make more or less of a good. Thus, in the short run, the quantity
supplied is not very responsive to the price. By contrast, over longer periods,
firms can build new factories or close old ones. In addition, new firms can enter a
market, and old firms can shut down. Thus, in the long run, the quantity supplied
can respond substantially to price changes.
Computing the Price Elasticity of Supply
Now that we have a general understanding about the price elasticity of supply,
let’s be more precise. Economists compute the price elasticity of supply as the
percentage change in the quantity supplied divided by the percentage change in
the price. That is,
Price elasticity of supply =
Percentage change in quantity supplied
.
Percentage change in price
For example, suppose that an increase in the price of milk from $2.85 to $3.15 a
gallon raises the amount that dairy farmers produce from 9,000 to 11,000 gallons
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99
per month. Using the midpoint method, we calculate the percentage change in
price as
Percentage change in price = (3.15 – 2.85) / 3.00 × 100 = 10 percent.
Similarly, we calculate the percentage change in quantity supplied as
Percentage change in quantity supplied = (11,000 – 9,000) / 10,000 × 100 = 20 percent.
In this case, the price elasticity of supply is
Price elasticity of supply =
20 percent
= 2.0.
10 percent
In this example, the elasticity of 2 indicates that the quantity supplied changes
proportionately twice as much as the price.
The Variety of Supply Curves
Because the price elasticity of supply measures the responsiveness of quantity supplied to the price, it is reflected in the appearance of the supply curve. Figure 5 shows
five cases. In the extreme case of a zero elasticity, as shown in panel (a), supply is
perfectly inelastic, and the supply curve is vertical. In this case, the quantity supplied
is the same regardless of the price. As the elasticity rises, the supply curve gets flatter, which shows that the quantity supplied responds more to changes in the price.
At the opposite extreme, shown in panel (e), supply is perfectly elastic. This occurs
as the price elasticity of supply approaches infinity and the supply curve becomes
horizontal, meaning that very small changes in the price lead to very large changes
in the quantity supplied.
In some markets, the elasticity of supply is not constant but varies over the
supply curve. Figure 6 shows a typical case for an industry in which firms have
factories with a limited capacity for production. For low levels of quantity supplied, the elasticity of supply is high, indicating that firms respond substantially
to changes in the price. In this region, firms have capacity for production that is
not being used, such as plants and equipment idle for all or part of the day. Small
increases in price make it profitable for firms to begin using this idle capacity. As
the quantity supplied rises, firms begin to reach capacity. Once capacity is fully
used, increasing production further requires the construction of new plants. To
induce firms to incur this extra expense, the price must rise substantially, so supply becomes less elastic.
Figure 6 presents a numerical example of this phenomenon. When the price
rises from $3 to $4 (a 29 percent increase, according to the midpoint method), the
quantity supplied rises from 100 to 200 (a 67 percent increase). Because quantity
supplied changes proportionately more than the price, the supply curve has elasticity greater than 1. By contrast, when the price rises from $12 to $15 (a 22 percent
increase), the quantity supplied rises from 500 to 525 (a 5 percent increase). In this
case, quantity supplied moves proportionately less than the price, so the elasticity
is less than 1.
QUICK QUIZ Define the price elasticity of supply. • Explain why the price elasticity
of supply might be different in the long run than in the short run.
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PART II
Figure
HOW MARKETS WORK
5
The Price Elasticity of Supply
The price elasticity of supply determines whether the supply curve is steep or flat.
Note that all percentage changes are calculated using the midpoint method.
(a) Perfectly Inelastic Supply: Elasticity Equals 0
(b) Inelastic Supply: Elasticity Is Less Than 1
Price
Price
Supply
Supply
$5
$5
4
4
1. An
increase
in price . . .
1. A 22%
increase
in price . . .
0
100
100
0
Quantity
110
Quantity
2. . . . leads to a 10% increase in quantity supplied.
2. . . . leaves the quantity supplied unchanged.
(c) Unit Elastic Supply: Elasticity Equals 1
Price
Supply
$5
4
1. A 22%
increase
in price . . .
100
0
125
Quantity
2. . . . leads to a 22% increase in quantity supplied.
(d) Elastic Supply: Elasticity Is Greater Than 1
Price
(e) Perfectly Elastic Supply: Elasticity Equals Infinity
Price
1. At any price
above $4, quantity
supplied is infinite.
Supply
$5
4
$4
1. A 22%
increase
in price . . .
Supply
2. At exactly $4,
producers will
supply any quantity.
0
100
200
Quantity
2. . . . leads to a 67% increase in quantity supplied.
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-005.indd 100
0
3. At a price below $4,
quantity supplied is zero.
Quantity
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CHAPTER 5
ELASTICITY AND ITS APPLICATION
Figure
Price
$15
Because firms often have a maximum capacity for
production, the elasticity of supply may be very high
at low levels of quantity supplied and very low at high
levels of quantity supplied. Here an increase in price
from $3 to $4 increases the quantity supplied from 100
to 200. Because the 67 percent increase in quantity
supplied (computed using the midpoint method) is
larger than the 29 percent increase in price, the supply
curve is elastic in this range. By contrast, when the
price rises from $12 to $15, the quantity supplied rises
only from 500 to 525. Because the 5 percent increase in
quantity supplied is smaller than the 22 percent increase
in price, the supply curve is inelastic in this range.
12
Elasticity is large
(greater than 1).
4
3
100
200
6
How the Price Elasticity of Supply Can Vary
Elasticity is small
(less than 1).
0
101
500 525
Quantity
Three Applications of Supply, Demand, and Elasticity
Can good news for farming be bad news for farmers? Why did OPEC fail to keep
the price of oil high? Does drug interdiction increase or decrease drug-related
crime? At first, these questions might seem to have little in common. Yet all three
questions are about markets, and all markets are subject to the forces of supply
and demand. Here we apply the versatile tools of supply, demand, and elasticity
to answer these seemingly complex questions.
Can Good News for Farming Be Bad News
for Farmers?
Imagine yourself as a Kansas wheat farmer. Because you earn all your income
from selling wheat, you devote much effort to making your land as productive
as possible. You monitor weather and soil conditions, check your fields for pests
and disease, and study the latest advances in farm technology. You know that the
more wheat you grow, the more you will have to sell after the harvest, and the
higher will be your income and your standard of living.
One day, Kansas State University announces a major discovery. Researchers
in its agronomy department have devised a new hybrid of wheat that raises the
amount farmers can produce from each acre of land by 20 percent. How should
you react to this news? Does this discovery make you better off or worse off than
you were before?
Recall from Chapter 4 that we answer such questions in three steps. First, we
examine whether the supply or demand curve shifts. Second, we consider in
which direction the curve shifts. Third, we use the supply-and-demand diagram
to see how the market equilibrium changes.
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In this case, the discovery of the new hybrid affects the supply curve. Because
the hybrid increases the amount of wheat that can be produced on each acre
of land, farmers are now willing to supply more wheat at any given price. In
other words, the supply curve shifts to the right. The demand curve remains the
same because consumers’ desire to buy wheat products at any given price is not
affected by the introduction of a new hybrid. Figure 7 shows an example of such
a change. When the supply curve shifts from S1 to S2, the quantity of wheat sold
increases from 100 to 110, and the price of wheat falls from $3 to $2.
Does this discovery make farmers better off? As a first cut to answering
this question, consider what happens to the total revenue received by farmers.
Farmers’ total revenue is P Q, the price of the wheat times the quantity sold. The
discovery affects farmers in two conflicting ways. The hybrid allows farmers to
produce more wheat (Q rises), but now each bushel of wheat sells for less (P falls).
Whether total revenue rises or falls depends on the elasticity of demand.
In practice, the demand for basic foodstuffs such as wheat is usually inelastic
because these items are relatively inexpensive and have few good substitutes.
When the demand curve is inelastic, as it is in Figure 7, a decrease in price causes
total revenue to fall. You can see this in the figure: The price of wheat falls substantially, whereas the quantity of wheat sold rises only slightly. Total revenue
falls from $300 to $220. Thus, the discovery of the new hybrid lowers the total
revenue that farmers receive from the sale of their crops.
If farmers are made worse off by the discovery of this new hybrid, one might
wonder why they adopt it. The answer goes to the heart of how competitive markets work. Because each farmer is only a small part of the market for wheat, he or
she takes the price of wheat as given. For any given price of wheat, it is better to
use the new hybrid to produce and sell more wheat. Yet when all farmers do this,
the supply of wheat increases, the price falls, and farmers are worse off.
Although this example may at first seem hypothetical, it helps to explain a
major change in the U.S. economy over the past century. Two hundred years ago,
most Americans lived on farms. Knowledge about farm methods was sufficiently
Figure
7
An Increase in Supply in the Market for Wheat
When an advance in farm technology increases the
supply of wheat from S1 to S2, the price of wheat
falls. Because the demand for wheat is inelastic,
the increase in the quantity sold from 100 to 110 is
proportionately smaller than the decrease in
the price from $3 to $2. As a result, farmers’
total revenue falls from $300 ($3 100) to
$220 ($2 110).
Price of
Wheat
2. . . . leads
to a large fall
in price . . .
1. When demand is inelastic,
an increase in supply . . .
S1
S2
$3
2
Demand
0
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-005.indd 102
Quantity of
Wheat
3. . . . and a proportionately smaller increase
in quantity sold. As a result, revenue falls
from $300 to $220.
100
110
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ELASTICITY AND ITS APPLICATION
103
primitive that most Americans had to be farmers to produce enough food to feed
the nation’s population. Yet over time, advances in farm technology increased
the amount of food that each farmer could produce. This increase in food supply,
together with inelastic food demand, caused farm revenues to fall, which in turn
encouraged people to leave farming.
A few numbers show the magnitude of this historic change. As recently as 1950,
10 million people worked on farms in the United States, representing 17 percent
of the labor force. Today, fewer than 3 million people work on farms, or 2 percent
of the labor force. This change coincided with tremendous advances in farm productivity: Despite the 70 percent drop in the number of farmers, U.S. farms now
produce more than twice the output of crops and livestock that they did in 1950.
This analysis of the market for farm products also helps to explain a seeming
paradox of public policy: Certain farm programs try to help farmers by inducing them not to plant crops on all of their land. The purpose of these programs
is to reduce the supply of farm products and thereby raise prices. With inelastic
demand for their products, farmers as a group receive greater total revenue if
they supply a smaller crop to the market. No single farmer would choose to leave
his land fallow on his own because each takes the market price as given. But if all
farmers do so together, each of them can be better off.
When analyzing the effects of farm technology or farm policy, it is important to
keep in mind that what is good for farmers is not necessarily good for society as a
whole. Improvement in farm technology can be bad for farmers because it makes
farmers increasingly unnecessary, but it is surely good for consumers who pay
less for food. Similarly, a policy aimed at reducing the supply of farm products
may raise the incomes of farmers, but it does so at the expense of consumers.
Why Did OPEC Fail to Keep the Price of Oil High?
DOONESBURY © 1972 G. B. TRUDEAU. REPRINTED
WITH PERMISSION OF UNIVERSAL UCLICK. ALL RIGHTS
RESERVED.
Many of the most disruptive events for the world’s economies over the past several decades have originated in the world market for oil. In the 1970s, members
of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) decided to raise
the world price of oil to increase their incomes. These countries accomplished this
goal by jointly reducing the amount of oil they supplied. From 1973 to 1974, the
price of oil (adjusted for overall inflation) rose more than 50 percent. Then, a few
years later, OPEC did the same thing again. From 1979 to 1981, the price of oil
approximately doubled.
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Yet OPEC found it difficult to maintain a high price. From 1982 to 1985, the
price of oil steadily declined about 10 percent per year. Dissatisfaction and disarray soon prevailed among the OPEC countries. In 1986, cooperation among OPEC
members completely broke down, and the price of oil plunged 45 percent. In 1990,
the price of oil (adjusted for overall inflation) was back to where it began in 1970,
and it stayed at that low level throughout most of the 1990s. (In the first decade of
the 21st century, the price of oil fluctuated substantially once again, but the main
driving force was changes in world demand rather than OPEC supply restrictions.
Early in the decade, oil demand and prices spiked up, in part because of a large
and rapidly growing Chinese economy. Prices plunged in 2008–2009 as the world
economy fell into a deep recession and then started rising once again as the world
economy started to recover.)
The OPEC episodes of the 1970s and 1980s show how supply and demand
can behave differently in the short run and in the long run. In the short run, both
the supply and demand for oil are relatively inelastic. Supply is inelastic because
the quantity of known oil reserves and the capacity for oil extraction cannot be
changed quickly. Demand is inelastic because buying habits do not respond
immediately to changes in price. Thus, as panel (a) of Figure 8 shows, the shortrun supply and demand curves are steep. When the supply of oil shifts from S1 to
S2, the price increase from P1 to P2 is large.
The situation is very different in the long run. Over long periods of time,
producers of oil outside OPEC respond to high prices by increasing oil exploration and by building new extraction capacity. Consumers respond with greater
conservation, such as by replacing old inefficient cars with newer efficient ones.
Thus, as panel (b) of Figure 8 shows, the long-run supply and demand curves are
Figure
8
A Reduction in Supply in the World Market for Oil
When the supply of oil falls, the response depends on the time horizon. In the short
run, supply and demand are relatively inelastic, as in panel (a). Thus, when the supply
curve shifts from S1 to S2, the price rises substantially. By contrast, in the long run,
supply and demand are relatively elastic, as in panel (b). In this case, the same size
shift in the supply curve (S1 to S2) causes a smaller increase in the price.
(a) The Oil Market in the Short Run
(b) The Oil Market in the Long Run
Price of Oil
Price of Oil
1. In the short run, when supply and
demand are inelastic, a shift in
supply . . .
S2
2. . . . leads
to a large
increase
in price.
1. In the long run, when
supply and demand are
elastic, a shift in
supply . . .
S1
P2
S2
S1
2. . . . leads
P2
to a small
increase
P1
in price.
P1
Demand
Demand
0
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-005.indd 104
Quantity of Oil
0
Quantity of Oil
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CHAPTER 5
ELASTICITY AND ITS APPLICATION
105
more elastic. In the long run, the shift in the supply curve from S1 to S2 causes a
much smaller increase in the price.
This analysis shows why OPEC succeeded in maintaining a high price of oil
only in the short run. When OPEC countries agreed to reduce their production
of oil, they shifted the supply curve to the left. Even though each OPEC member
sold less oil, the price rose by so much in the short run that OPEC incomes rose.
By contrast, in the long run, when supply and demand are more elastic, the same
reduction in supply, measured by the horizontal shift in the supply curve, caused
a smaller increase in the price. Thus, OPEC’s coordinated reduction in supply
proved less profitable in the long run. The cartel learned that raising prices is
easier in the short run than in the long run.
Does Drug Interdiction Increase or Decrease
Drug-Related Crime?
A persistent problem facing our society is the use of illegal drugs, such as heroin,
cocaine, ecstasy, and crack. Drug use has several adverse effects. One is that drug
dependence can ruin the lives of drug users and their families. Another is that drug
addicts often turn to robbery and other violent crimes to obtain the money needed
to support their habit. To discourage the use of illegal drugs, the U.S. government
devotes billions of dollars each year to reduce the flow of drugs into the country.
Let’s use the tools of supply and demand to examine this policy of drug interdiction.
Suppose the government increases the number of federal agents devoted to
the war on drugs. What happens in the market for illegal drugs? As is usual,
we answer this question in three steps. First, we consider whether the supply or
demand curve shifts. Second, we consider the direction of the shift. Third, we see
how the shift affects the equilibrium price and quantity.
Although the purpose of drug interdiction is to reduce drug use, its direct impact
is on the sellers of drugs rather than the buyers. When the government stops some
drugs from entering the country and arrests more smugglers, it raises the cost of
selling drugs and, therefore, reduces the quantity of drugs supplied at any given
price. The demand for drugs—the amount buyers want at any given price—is not
changed. As panel (a) of Figure 9 shows, interdiction shifts the supply curve to the
left from S1 to S2 and leaves the demand curve the same. The equilibrium price of
drugs rises from P1 to P2, and the equilibrium quantity falls from Q1 to Q2. The fall
in the equilibrium quantity shows that drug interdiction does reduce drug use.
But what about the amount of drug-related crime? To answer this question,
consider the total amount that drug users pay for the drugs they buy. Because
few drug addicts are likely to break their destructive habits in response to a
higher price, it is likely that the demand for drugs is inelastic, as it is drawn in the
figure. If demand is inelastic, then an increase in price raises total revenue in the
drug market. That is, because drug interdiction raises the price of drugs proportionately more than it reduces drug use, it raises the total amount of money that
drug users pay for drugs. Addicts who already had to steal to support their habits
would have an even greater need for quick cash. Thus, drug interdiction could
increase drug-related crime.
Because of this adverse effect of drug interdiction, some analysts argue for alternative approaches to the drug problem. Rather than trying to reduce the supply
of drugs, policymakers might try to reduce the demand by pursuing a policy of
drug education. Successful drug education has the effects shown in panel (b) of
Figure 9. The demand curve shifts to the left from D1 to D2. As a result, the equilibrium quantity falls from Q1 to Q2, and the equilibrium price falls from P1 to P2.
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PART II
Figure
HOW MARKETS WORK
9
Policies to Reduce the Use of Illegal Drugs
Drug interdiction reduces the supply of drugs from S1 to S2, as in panel (a). If the
demand for drugs is inelastic, then the total amount paid by drug users rises, even
as the amount of drug use falls. By contrast, drug education reduces the demand for
drugs from D1 to D2, as in panel (b). Because both price and quantity fall, the amount
paid by drug users falls.
(b) Drug Education
(a) Drug Interdiction
Price of
Drugs
1. Drug interdiction reduces
the supply of drugs . . .
Price of
Drugs
1. Drug education reduces
the demand for drugs . . .
S2
Supply
S1
P2
P1
P1
P2
2. . . . which
raises the
price . . .
Demand
0
Q2
Q1
Quantity of Drugs
3. . . . and reduces
the quantity sold.
2. . . . which
reduces the
price . . .
D1
D2
0
Q2
Q1
Quantity of Drugs
3. . . . and reduces
the quantity sold.
Total revenue, which is price times quantity, also falls. Thus, in contrast to drug
interdiction, drug education can reduce both drug use and drug-related crime.
Advocates of drug interdiction might argue that the long-run effects of this
policy are different from the short-run effects because the elasticity of demand
depends on the time horizon. The demand for drugs is probably inelastic over
short periods because higher prices do not substantially affect drug use by established addicts. But demand may be more elastic over longer periods because
higher prices would discourage experimentation with drugs among the young
and, over time, lead to fewer drug addicts. In this case, drug interdiction would
increase drug-related crime in the short run while decreasing it in the long run.
QUICK QUIZ How might a drought that destroys half of all farm crops be good for
farmers? If such a drought is good for farmers, why don’t farmers destroy their own
crops in the absence of a drought?
Conclusion
According to an old quip, even a parrot can become an economist simply by learning to say “supply and demand.” These last two chapters should have convinced
you that there is much truth in this statement. The tools of supply and demand
allow you to analyze many of the most important events and policies that shape
the economy. You are now well on your way to becoming an economist (or at least
a well-educated parrot).
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CHAPTER 5
ELASTICITY AND ITS APPLICATION
107
SUMMARY
SU
• The price elasticity of demand measures how
much the quantity demanded responds to
changes in the price. Demand tends to be more
elastic if close substitutes are available, if the
good is a luxury rather than a necessity, if the
market is narrowly defined, or if buyers have
substantial time to react to a price change.
• The price elasticity of demand is calculated as
the percentage change in quantity demanded
divided by the percentage change in price. If
quantity demanded moves proportionately less
than the price, then the elasticity is less than 1,
and demand is said to be inelastic. If quantity
demanded moves proportionately more than
the price, then the elasticity is greater than 1,
and demand is said to be elastic.
• Total revenue, the total amount paid for a good,
equals the price of the good times the quantity
sold. For inelastic demand curves, total revenue
moves in the same direction as the price. For
elastic demand curves, total revenue moves in
the opposite direction as the price.
• The income elasticity of demand measures
how much the quantity demanded responds to
changes in consumers’ income. The cross-price
elasticity of demand measures how much the
quantity demanded of one good responds to
changes in the price of another good.
• The price elasticity of supply measures how
much the quantity supplied responds to changes
in the price. This elasticity often depends on the
time horizon under consideration. In most markets, supply is more elastic in the long run than
in the short run.
• The price elasticity of supply is calculated as the
percentage change in quantity supplied divided
by the percentage change in price. If quantity
supplied moves proportionately less than the
price, then the elasticity is less than 1, and supply is said to be inelastic. If quantity supplied
moves proportionately more than the price, then
the elasticity is greater than 1, and supply is said
to be elastic.
• The tools of supply and demand can be applied
in many different kinds of markets. This chapter uses them to analyze the market for wheat,
the market for oil, and the market for illegal
drugs.
KEY CONC
C ONCEPTS
EPTS
elasticity, p. 90
price elasticity of demand, p. 90
total revenue, p. 94
income elasticity of demand, p. 97
cross-price elasticity of
demand, p. 97
price elasticity of supply, p. 98
QUESTIONS FOR
FO R REVIEW
1. Define the price elasticity of demand and the
income elasticity of demand.
2. List and explain the four determinants of the
price elasticity of demand discussed in the
chapter.
3. What is the main advantage of using the
midpoint method for calculating elasticity?
4. If the elasticity is greater than 1, is demand
elastic or inelastic? If the elasticity equals 0,
is demand perfectly elastic or perfectly
inelastic?
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-005.indd 107
5. On a supply-and-demand diagram, show
equilibrium price, equilibrium quantity, and
the total revenue received by producers.
6. If demand is elastic, how will an increase in
price change total revenue? Explain.
7. What do we call a good whose income
elasticity is less than 0?
8. How is the price elasticity of supply calculated?
Explain what it measures.
9. What is the price elasticity of supply of Picasso
paintings?
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PART II
HOW MARKETS WORK
10. Is the price elasticity of supply usually larger in
the short run or in the long run? Why?
11. How can elasticity help explain why drug
interdiction could reduce the supply of drugs,
yet possibly increase drug-related crime?
PROBLEMS AND APPLICATIONS
APPLICATIO NS
1. For each of the following pairs of goods, which
good would you expect to have more elastic
demand and why?
a. required textbooks or mystery novels
b. Beethoven recordings or classical music
recordings in general
c. subway rides during the next six months or
subway rides during the next five years
d. root beer or water
2. Suppose that business travelers and vacationers
have the following demand for airline tickets
from New York to Boston:
Price
$150
200
250
300
Quantity Demanded
(business travelers)
2,100 tickets
2,000
1,900
1,800
Quantity Demanded
(vacationers)
1,000 tickets
800
600
400
a. As the price of tickets rises from $200 to
$250, what is the price elasticity of demand
for (i) business travelers and (ii) vacationers? (Use the midpoint method in your
calculations.)
b. Why might vacationers have a different
elasticity from business travelers?
3. Suppose the price elasticity of demand for
heating oil is 0.2 in the short run and 0.7 in the
long run.
a. if the price of heating oil rises from $1.80
to $2.20 per gallon, what happens to the
quantity of heating oil demanded in the short
run? In the long run? (Use the midpoint
method in your calculations.)
b. Why might this elasticity depend on the time
horizon?
4. A price change causes the quantity demanded
of a good to decrease by 30 percent, while
the total revenue of that good increases by
15 percent. Is the demand curve elastic or
inelastic? Explain.
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-005.indd 108
5. The equilibrium price of coffee mugs rose sharply
last month, but the equilibrium quantity was
the same as ever. Three people tried to explain
the situation. Which explanations could be
right? Explain your logic.
Billy: Demand increased, but supply was
totally inelastic.
Marian: Supply increased, but so did
demand.
Valerie: Supply decreased, but demand was
totally inelastic.
6. Suppose that your demand schedule for DVDs
is as follows:
Price
$ 8
10
12
14
16
Quantity Demanded
(income = $10,000)
40 DVDs
32
24
16
8
Quantity Demanded
(income = $12,000)
50 DVDs
45
30
20
12
a. Use the midpoint method to calculate your
price elasticity of demand as the price of
DVDs increases from $8 to $10 if (i) your
income is $10,000 and (ii) your income is
$12,000.
b. Calculate your income elasticity of demand
as your income increases from $10,000 to
$12,000 if (i) the price is $12 and (ii) the price
is $16.
7. You have the following information about good
X and good Y:
• Income elasticity of demand for good X: –3
• Cross-price elasticity of demand for good X
with respect to the price of good Y: 2
Would an increase in income and a decrease in
the price of good Y unambiguously decrease
the demand for good X? Why or why not?
8. Maria has decided always to spend one-third of
her income on clothing.
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CHAPTER 5
a. What is her income elasticity of clothing
demand?
b. What is her price elasticity of clothing
demand?
c. If Maria’s tastes change and she decides
to spend only one-fourth of her income
on clothing, how does her demand curve
change? What is her income elasticity and
price elasticity now?
9. The New York Times reported (Feb. 17, 1996) that
subway ridership declined after a fare increase:
“There were nearly four million fewer riders
in December 1995, the first full month after the
price of a token increased 25 cents to $1.50, than
in the previous December, a 4.3 percent decline.”
a. Use these data to estimate the price elasticity
of demand for subway rides.
b. According to your estimate, what happens
to the Transit Authority’s revenue when the
fare rises?
c. Why might your estimate of the elasticity be
unreliable?
10. Two drivers—Tom and Jerry—each drive up to
a gas station. Before looking at the price, each
places an order. Tom says, “I’d like 10 gallons
of gas.” Jerry says, “I’d like $10 worth of gas.”
What is each driver’s price elasticity of demand?
11. Consider public policy aimed at smoking.
a. Studies indicate that the price elasticity of
demand for cigarettes is about 0.4. If a pack
of cigarettes currently costs $2 and the
government wants to reduce smoking by
20 percent, by how much should it increase
the price?
b. If the government permanently increases
the price of cigarettes, will the policy have a
larger effect on smoking one year from now
or five years from now?
c. Studies also find that teenagers have a
higher price elasticity than do adults. Why
might this be true?
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-005.indd 109
ELASTICITY AND ITS APPLICATION
109
12. You are the curator of a museum. The
museum is running short of funds, so you
decide to increase revenue. Should you
increase or decrease the price of admission?
Explain.
13. Pharmaceutical drugs have an inelastic
demand, and computers have an elastic
demand. Suppose that technological advance
doubles the supply of both products (that is,
the quantity supplied at each price is twice
what it was).
a. What happens to the equilibrium price and
quantity in each market?
b. Which product experiences a larger change
in price?
c. Which product experiences a larger change
in quantity?
d. What happens to total consumer spending
on each product?
14. Several years ago, flooding along the Missouri
and the Mississippi rivers destroyed thousands
of acres of wheat.
a. Farmers whose crops were destroyed by the
floods were much worse off, but farmers
whose crops were not destroyed benefited
from the floods. Why?
b. What information would you need about the
market for wheat to assess whether farmers
as a group were hurt or helped by the
floods?
15. Explain why the following might be true:
A drought around the world raises the total
revenue that farmers receive from the sale of
grain, but a drought only in Kansas reduces the
total revenue that Kansas farmers receive.
For further information on topics in this chapter,
additional problems, applications, examples, online
quizzes, and more, please visit our website at www
.cengage.com/economics/mankiw.
09/12/10 8:12 PM
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Supply, Demand, and
Government Policies
6
E
conomists have two roles. As scientists, they develop and test theories to
explain the world around them. As policy advisers, they use their theories to help change the world for the better. The focus of the preceding
two chapters has been scientific. We have seen how supply and demand
determine the price of a good and the quantity of the good sold. We have also seen
how various events shift supply and demand and thereby change the equilibrium
price and quantity.
This chapter offers our first look at policy. Here we analyze various types of
government policy using only the tools of supply and demand. As you will see,
the analysis yields some surprising insights. Policies often have effects that their
architects did not intend or anticipate.
We begin by considering policies that directly control prices. For example,
rent-control laws dictate a maximum rent that landlords may charge tenants.
Minimum-wage laws dictate the lowest wage that firms may pay workers. Price
111
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controls are usually enacted when policymakers believe that the market price of a
good or service is unfair to buyers or sellers. Yet, as we will see, these policies can
generate inequities of their own.
After discussing price controls, we consider the impact of taxes. Policymakers
use taxes to raise revenue for public purposes and to influence market outcomes.
Although the prevalence of taxes in our economy is obvious, their effects are not.
For example, when the government levies a tax on the amount that firms pay their
workers, do the firms or the workers bear the burden of the tax? The answer is not
at all clear—until we apply the powerful tools of supply and demand.
Controls on Prices
price ceiling
a legal maximum on the
price at which a good can
be sold
price floor
a legal minimum on the
price at which a good can
be sold
To see how price controls affect market outcomes, let’s look once again at the
market for ice cream. As we saw in Chapter 4, if ice cream is sold in a competitive
market free of government regulation, the price of ice cream adjusts to balance
supply and demand: At the equilibrium price, the quantity of ice cream that buyers want to buy exactly equals the quantity that sellers want to sell. To be concrete,
suppose the equilibrium price is $3 per cone.
Not everyone may be happy with the outcome of this free-market process. Let’s
say the American Association of Ice-Cream Eaters complains that the $3 price is
too high for everyone to enjoy a cone a day (their recommended daily allowance).
Meanwhile, the National Organization of Ice-Cream Makers complains that the
$3 price—the result of “cutthroat competition”—is too low and is depressing the
incomes of its members. Each of these groups lobbies the government to pass laws
that alter the market outcome by directly controlling the price of an ice-cream
cone.
Because buyers of any good always want a lower price while sellers want a
higher price, the interests of the two groups conflict. If the Ice-Cream Eaters are
successful in their lobbying, the government imposes a legal maximum on the
price at which ice-cream cones can be sold. Because the price is not allowed to rise
above this level, the legislated maximum is called a price ceiling. By contrast, if
the Ice-Cream Makers are successful, the government imposes a legal minimum
on the price. Because the price cannot fall below this level, the legislated minimum is called a price floor. Let us consider the effects of these policies in turn.
How Price Ceilings Affect Market Outcomes
When the government, moved by the complaints and campaign contributions of
the Ice-Cream Eaters, imposes a price ceiling on the market for ice cream, two
outcomes are possible. In panel (a) of Figure 1, the government imposes a price
ceiling of $4 per cone. In this case, because the price that balances supply and
demand ($3) is below the ceiling, the price ceiling is not binding. Market forces
naturally move the economy to the equilibrium, and the price ceiling has no effect
on the price or the quantity sold.
Panel (b) of Figure 1 shows the other, more interesting, possibility. In this case,
the government imposes a price ceiling of $2 per cone. Because the equilibrium
price of $3 is above the price ceiling, the ceiling is a binding constraint on the market. The forces of supply and demand tend to move the price toward the equilibrium price, but when the market price hits the ceiling, it can, by law, rise no
further. Thus, the market price equals the price ceiling. At this price, the quantity
of ice cream demanded (125 cones in the figure) exceeds the quantity supplied
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Figure
In panel (a), the government imposes a price ceiling of $4. Because the price ceiling is
above the equilibrium price of $3, the price ceiling has no effect, and the market can
reach the equilibrium of supply and demand. In this equilibrium, quantity supplied
and quantity demanded both equal 100 cones. In panel (b), the government imposes
a price ceiling of $2. Because the price ceiling is below the equilibrium price of $3,
the market price equals $2. At this price, 125 cones are demanded and only 75 are
supplied, so there is a shortage of 50 cones.
(a) A Price Ceiling That Is Not Binding
Price of
Ice-Cream
Cone
A Market with a Price
Ceiling
Price of
Ice-Cream
Cone
Price
ceiling
3
Supply
Equilibrium
price
$3
Equilibrium
price
2
Shortage
100
Equilibrium
quantity
Quantity of
Ice-Cream
Cones
Price
ceiling
Demand
Demand
0
1
(b) A Price Ceiling That Is Binding
Supply
$4
113
0
75
Quantity
supplied
125
Quantity
demanded
Quantity of
Ice-Cream
Cones
(75 cones). There is a shortage: 50 people who want to buy ice cream at the going
price are unable to do so.
In response to this shortage, some mechanism for rationing ice cream will
naturally develop. The mechanism could be long lines: Buyers who are willing
to arrive early and wait in line get a cone, but those unwilling to wait do not.
Alternatively, sellers could ration ice-cream cones according to their own personal
biases, selling them only to friends, relatives, or members of their own racial or
ethnic group. Notice that even though the price ceiling was motivated by a desire
to help buyers of ice cream, not all buyers benefit from the policy. Some buyers
do get to pay a lower price, although they may have to wait in line to do so, but
other buyers cannot get any ice cream at all.
This example in the market for ice cream shows a general result: When the government imposes a binding price ceiling on a competitive market, a shortage of the good
arises, and sellers must ration the scarce goods among the large number of potential buyers. The rationing mechanisms that develop under price ceilings are rarely desirable. Long lines are inefficient because they waste buyers’ time. Discrimination
according to seller bias is both inefficient (because the good does not necessarily
go to the buyer who values it most highly) and potentially unfair. By contrast, the
rationing mechanism in a free, competitive market is both efficient and impersonal. When the market for ice cream reaches its equilibrium, anyone who wants
to pay the market price can get a cone. Free markets ration goods with prices.
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Lines at the Gas Pump
As we discussed in the preceding chapter, in 1973 the Organization of Petroleum
Exporting Countries (OPEC) raised the price of crude oil in world oil markets.
Because crude oil is the major input used to make gasoline, the higher oil prices
reduced the supply of gasoline. Long lines at gas stations became commonplace,
and motorists often had to wait for hours to buy only a few gallons of gas.
What was responsible for the long gas lines? Most people blame OPEC. Surely,
if OPEC had not raised the price of crude oil, the shortage of gasoline would not
have occurred. Yet economists blame U.S. government regulations that limited
the price oil companies could charge for gasoline.
Figure 2 shows what happened. As shown in panel (a), before OPEC raised the
price of crude oil, the equilibrium price of gasoline, P1, was below the price ceiling. The price regulation, therefore, had no effect. When the price of crude oil rose,
however, the situation changed. The increase in the price of crude oil raised the
cost of producing gasoline, and this reduced the supply of gasoline. As panel (b)
shows, the supply curve shifted to the left from S1 to S2. In an unregulated market,
this shift in supply would have raised the equilibrium price of gasoline from P1
to P2, and no shortage would have resulted. Instead, the price ceiling prevented
the price from rising to the equilibrium level. At the price ceiling, producers were
Figure
2
The Market for Gasoline
with a Price Ceiling
Panel (a) shows the gasoline market when the price ceiling is not binding because
the equilibrium price, P1, is below the ceiling. Panel (b) shows the gasoline market
after an increase in the price of crude oil (an input into making gasoline) shifts the
supply curve to the left from S1 to S2. In an unregulated market, the price would have
risen from P1 to P2. The price ceiling, however, prevents this from happening. At the
binding price ceiling, consumers are willing to buy QD, but producers of gasoline
are willing to sell only QS. The difference between quantity demanded and quantity
supplied, QD – QS, measures the gasoline shortage.
(a) The Price Ceiling on Gasoline Is Not Binding
(b) The Price Ceiling on Gasoline Is Binding
Price of
Gasoline
Price of
Gasoline
S2
2. . . . but when
supply falls . . .
Supply, S1
1. Initially,
the price
ceiling
is not
binding . . .
S1
P2
Price ceiling
Price ceiling
P1
Demand
0
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-006.indd 114
3. . . . the price
ceiling becomes
binding . . .
P1
4. . . .
resulting
in a
shortage.
Q1
Quantity of
Gasoline
Demand
0
QS
QD
Q1
Quantity of
Gasoline
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115
willing to sell QS, and consumers were willing to buy QD. Thus, the shift in supply
caused a severe shortage at the regulated price.
Eventually, the laws regulating the price of gasoline were repealed. Lawmakers
came to understand that they were partly responsible for the many hours Americans lost waiting in line to buy gasoline. Today, when the price of crude oil changes,
the price of gasoline can adjust to bring supply and demand into equilibrium. Q
Rent Control in the Short Run
and the Long Run
One common example of a price ceiling is rent control. In many cities, the local
government places a ceiling on rents that landlords may charge their tenants. The
goal of this policy is to help the poor by making housing more affordable. Economists often criticize rent control, arguing that it is a highly inefficient way to help
the poor raise their standard of living. One economist called rent control “the best
way to destroy a city, other than bombing.”
The adverse effects of rent control are less apparent to the general population
because these effects occur over many years. In the short run, landlords have a
fixed number of apartments to rent, and they cannot adjust this number quickly as
market conditions change. Moreover, the number of people searching for housing
in a city may not be highly responsive to rents in the short run because people take
time to adjust their housing arrangements. Therefore, the short-run supply and
demand for housing are relatively inelastic.
Panel (a) of Figure 3 shows the short-run effects of rent control on the housing
market. As with any binding price ceiling, rent control causes a shortage. Yet because
Figure
Panel (a) shows the short-run effects of rent control: Because the supply and demand
curves for apartments are relatively inelastic, the price ceiling imposed by a rentcontrol law causes only a small shortage of housing. Panel (b) shows the long-run
effects of rent control: Because the supply and demand curves for apartments are
more elastic, rent control causes a large shortage.
(a) Rent Control in the Short Run
(supply and demand are inelastic)
Rental
Price of
Apartment
3
Rent Control in the
Short Run and in the
Long Run
(b) Rent Control in the Long Run
(supply and demand are elastic)
Rental
Price of
Apartment
Supply
Supply
Controlled rent
Controlled rent
Shortage
Demand
Shortage
Demand
0
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Quantity of
Apartments
0
Quantity of
Apartments
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supply and demand are inelastic in the short run, the initial shortage caused by rent
control is small. The primary effect in the short run is to reduce rents.
The long-run story is very different because the buyers and sellers of rental
housing respond more to market conditions as time passes. On the supply side,
landlords respond to low rents by not building new apartments and by failing to
maintain existing ones. On the demand side, low rents encourage people to find
their own apartments (rather than living with their parents or sharing apartments
with roommates) and induce more people to move into a city. Therefore, both
supply and demand are more elastic in the long run.
Panel (b) of Figure 3 illustrates the housing market in the long run. When rent
control depresses rents below the equilibrium level, the quantity of apartments
supplied falls substantially, and the quantity of apartments demanded rises substantially. The result is a large shortage of housing.
In cities with rent control, landlords use various mechanisms to ration housing. Some landlords keep long waiting lists. Others give a preference to tenants
without children. Still others discriminate on the basis of race. Sometimes apartments are allocated to those willing to offer under-the-table payments to building
superintendents. In essence, these bribes bring the total price of an apartment
(including the bribe) closer to the equilibrium price.
To understand fully the effects of rent control, we have to remember one of the
Ten Principles of Economics from Chapter 1: People respond to incentives. In free
markets, landlords try to keep their buildings clean and safe because desirable
apartments command higher prices. By contrast, when rent control creates shortages and waiting lists, landlords lose their incentive to respond to tenants’ concerns. Why should a landlord spend money to maintain and improve the property
when people are waiting to get in as it is? In the end, tenants get lower rents, but
they also get lower-quality housing.
Policymakers often react to the effects of rent control by imposing additional
regulations. For example, various laws make racial discrimination in housing illegal and require landlords to provide minimally adequate living conditions. These
laws, however, are difficult and costly to enforce. By contrast, when rent control
is eliminated and a market for housing is regulated by the forces of competition,
such laws are less necessary. In a free market, the price of housing adjusts to eliminate the shortages that give rise to undesirable landlord behavior. Q
How Price Floors Affect Market Outcomes
To examine the effects of another kind of government price control, let’s return
to the market for ice cream. Imagine now that the government is persuaded by
the pleas of the National Organization of Ice-Cream Makers whose members feel
the $3 equilibrium price is too low. In this case, the government might institute a
price floor. Price floors, like price ceilings, are an attempt by the government to
maintain prices at other than equilibrium levels. Whereas a price ceiling places a
legal maximum on prices, a price floor places a legal minimum.
When the government imposes a price floor on the ice-cream market, two outcomes are possible. If the government imposes a price floor of $2 per cone when
the equilibrium price is $3, we obtain the outcome in panel (a) of Figure 4. In this
case, because the equilibrium price is above the floor, the price floor is not binding. Market forces naturally move the economy to the equilibrium, and the price
floor has no effect.
Panel (b) of Figure 4 shows what happens when the government imposes a
price floor of $4 per cone. In this case, because the equilibrium price of $3 is below
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In panel (a), the government imposes a price floor of $2. Because this is below the
equilibrium price of $3, the price floor has no effect. The market price adjusts to
balance supply and demand. At the equilibrium, quantity supplied and quantity
demanded both equal 100 cones. In panel (b), the government imposes a price floor
of $4, which is above the equilibrium price of $3. Therefore, the market price equals
$4. Because 120 cones are supplied at this price and only 80 are demanded, there is a
surplus of 40 cones.
(a) A Price Floor That Is Not Binding
Price of
Ice-Cream
Cone
Figure
4
A Market with a Price
Floor
(b) A Price Floor That Is Binding
Price of
Ice-Cream
Cone
Supply
Supply
Surplus
Equilibrium
price
$4
$3
Price
floor
2
Price
floor
3
Equilibrium
price
Demand
0
117
100
Equilibrium
quantity
Quantity of
Ice-Cream
Cones
Demand
0
80
Quantity
demanded
120
Quantity
supplied
Quantity of
Ice-Cream
Cones
the floor, the price floor is a binding constraint on the market. The forces of supply and demand tend to move the price toward the equilibrium price, but when
the market price hits the floor, it can fall no further. The market price equals the
price floor. At this floor, the quantity of ice cream supplied (120 cones) exceeds
the quantity demanded (80 cones). Some people who want to sell ice cream at the
going price are unable to. Thus, a binding price floor causes a surplus.
Just as the shortages resulting from price ceilings can lead to undesirable
rationing mechanisms, so can the surpluses resulting from price floors. In the
case of a price floor, some sellers are unable to sell all they want at the market
price. The sellers who appeal to the personal biases of the buyers, perhaps due to
racial or familial ties, are better able to sell their goods than those who do not. By
contrast, in a free market, the price serves as the rationing mechanism, and sellers
can sell all they want at the equilibrium price.
The Minimum Wage
An important example of a price floor is the minimum wage. Minimum-wage
laws dictate the lowest price for labor that any employer may pay. The U.S.
Congress first instituted a minimum wage with the Fair Labor Standards Act
of 1938 to ensure workers a minimally adequate standard of living. In 2009,
the minimum wage according to federal law was $7.25 per hour. (Some states
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mandate minimum wages above the federal level.) Most European nations have
minimum-wage laws as well; some, such as France and the United Kingdom,
have significantly higher minimums than the United States.
To examine the effects of a minimum wage, we must consider the market for
labor. Panel (a) of Figure 5 shows the labor market, which, like all markets, is subject to the forces of supply and demand. Workers determine the supply of labor,
and firms determine the demand. If the government doesn’t intervene, the wage
normally adjusts to balance labor supply and labor demand.
Panel (b) of Figure 5 shows the labor market with a minimum wage. If the
minimum wage is above the equilibrium level, as it is here, the quantity of labor
supplied exceeds the quantity demanded. The result is unemployment. Thus, the
minimum wage raises the incomes of those workers who have jobs, but it lowers
the incomes of workers who cannot find jobs.
To fully understand the minimum wage, keep in mind that the economy
contains not a single labor market but many labor markets for different types of
workers. The impact of the minimum wage depends on the skill and experience of
the worker. Highly skilled and experienced workers are not affected because their
equilibrium wages are well above the minimum. For these workers, the minimum
wage is not binding.
The minimum wage has its greatest impact on the market for teenage labor.
The equilibrium wages of teenagers are low because teenagers are among the least
skilled and least experienced members of the labor force. In addition, teenagers
are often willing to accept a lower wage in exchange for on-the-job training. (Some
teenagers are willing to work as “interns” for no pay at all. Because internships
pay nothing, however, the minimum wage does not apply to them. If it did, these
Figure
5
How the Minimum Wage
Affects the Labor Market
Panel (a) shows a labor market in which the wage adjusts to balance labor supply
and labor demand. Panel (b) shows the impact of a binding minimum wage. Because
the minimum wage is a price floor, it causes a surplus: The quantity of labor supplied
exceeds the quantity demanded. The result is unemployment.
(a) A Free Labor Market
(b) A Labor Market with a Binding Minimum Wage
Wage
Wage
Labor
supply
Minimum
wage
Labor surplus
(unemployment)
Labor
supply
Equilibrium
wage
Labor
demand
0
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-006.indd 118
Equilibrium
employment
Quantity of
Labor
Labor
demand
0
Quantity
demanded
Quantity
supplied
Quantity of
Labor
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119
jobs might not exist.) As a result, the minimum wage is more often binding for
teenagers than for other members of the labor force.
Many economists have studied how minimum-wage laws affect the teenage
labor market. These researchers compare the changes in the minimum wage over
time with the changes in teenage employment. Although there is some debate
about how much the minimum wage affects employment, the typical study finds
that a 10 percent increase in the minimum wage depresses teenage employment
between 1 and 3 percent. In interpreting this estimate, note that a 10 percent
increase in the minimum wage does not raise the average wage of teenagers
by 10 percent. A change in the law does not directly affect those teenagers who
are already paid well above the minimum, and enforcement of minimum-wage
laws is not perfect. Thus, the estimated drop in employment of 1 to 3 percent is
significant.
In addition to altering the quantity of labor demanded, the minimum wage
alters the quantity supplied. Because the minimum wage raises the wage that
teenagers can earn, it increases the number of teenagers who choose to look for
jobs. Studies have found that a higher minimum wage influences which teenagers
are employed. When the minimum wage rises, some teenagers who are still
attending high school choose to drop out and take jobs. These new dropouts
displace other teenagers who had already dropped out of school and who now
become unemployed.
The minimum wage is a frequent topic of debate. Economists are about evenly
divided on the issue. In a 2006 survey of Ph.D. economists, 47 percent favored
eliminating the minimum wage, while 14 percent would maintain it at its current
level and 38 percent would increase it.
Advocates of the minimum wage view the policy as one way to raise the
income of the working poor. They correctly point out that workers who earn the
minimum wage can afford only a meager standard of living. In 2009, for instance,
when the minimum wage was $7.25 per hour, two adults working 40 hours a
week for every week of the year at minimum-wage jobs had a total annual income
of only $30,160, which was less than two-thirds of the median family income in
the United States. Many advocates of the minimum wage admit that it has some
adverse effects, including unemployment, but they believe that these effects are
small and that, all things considered, a higher minimum wage makes the poor
better off.
Opponents of the minimum wage contend that it is not the best way to combat
poverty. They note that a high minimum wage causes unemployment, encourages teenagers to drop out of school, and prevents some unskilled workers from
getting the on-the-job training they need. Moreover, opponents of the minimum
wage point out that it is a poorly targeted policy. Not all minimum-wage workers
are heads of households trying to help their families escape poverty. In fact, fewer
than a third of minimum-wage earners are in families with incomes below the
poverty line. Many are teenagers from middle-class homes working at part-time
jobs for extra spending money. Q
Evaluating Price Controls
One of the Ten Principles of Economics discussed in Chapter 1 is that markets are
usually a good way to organize economic activity. This principle explains why
economists usually oppose price ceilings and price floors. To economists, prices
are not the outcome of some haphazard process. Prices, they contend, are the
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in the news
Should Unpaid Internships Be Allowed?
Some students take internships without pay to gain skills and experience. Regulators are starting to ask whether this should be legal.
The Unpaid Intern,
Legal or Not
BY STEVEN GREENHOUSE
W
ith job openings scarce for young
people, the number of unpaid internships has climbed in recent years, leading
federal and state regulators to worry that
more employers are illegally using such
internships for free labor.
Convinced that many unpaid internships violate minimum wage laws, officials
in Oregon, California and other states have
begun investigations and fined employers.
Last year, M. Patricia Smith, then New York’s
labor commissioner, ordered investigations
into several firms’ internships. Now, as the federal Labor Department’s top law enforcement
official, she and the wage and hour division
are stepping up enforcement nationwide….
The Labor Department says it is cracking down on firms that fail to pay interns
properly and expanding efforts to educate
companies, colleges and students on the
law regarding internships.
“If you’re a for-profit employer or
you want to pursue an internship with a
for-profit employer, there aren’t going to be
many circumstances where you can have
an internship and not be paid and still be
in compliance with the law,” said Nancy J.
Leppink, the acting director of the department’s wage and hour division.
Note from the author: The rules discussed in this article are being applied to
for-profit firms but not to government.
Many government internships, including
those at congressional offices, are unpaid.
The Labor Department is not trying to prohibit this arrangement.
Source: New York Times, April 2, 2010.
result of the millions of business and consumer decisions that lie behind the
supply and demand curves. Prices have the crucial job of balancing supply and
demand and, thereby, coordinating economic activity. When policymakers set
prices by legal decree, they obscure the signals that normally guide the allocation
of society’s resources.
Another one of the Ten Principles of Economics is that governments can sometimes improve market outcomes. Indeed, policymakers are led to control prices
because they view the market’s outcome as unfair. Price controls are often aimed
at helping the poor. For instance, rent-control laws try to make housing affordable
for everyone, and minimum-wage laws try to help people escape poverty.
Yet price controls often hurt those they are trying to help. Rent control may
keep rents low, but it also discourages landlords from maintaining their buildings
and makes housing hard to find. Minimum-wage laws may raise the incomes of
some workers, but they also cause other workers to be unemployed.
Helping those in need can be accomplished in ways other than controlling
prices. For instance, the government can make housing more affordable by
paying a fraction of the rent for poor families. Unlike rent control, such rent
subsidies do not reduce the quantity of housing supplied and, therefore, do not
lead to housing shortages. Similarly, wage subsidies raise the living standards
of the working poor without discouraging firms from hiring them. An example
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121
of a wage subsidy is the earned income tax credit, a government program that
supplements the incomes of low-wage workers.
Although these alternative policies are often better than price controls, they are
not perfect. Rent and wage subsidies cost the government money and, therefore,
require higher taxes. As we see in the next section, taxation has costs of its own.
QUICK QUIZ Define price ceiling and price floor and give an example of each. Which
leads to a shortage? Which leads to a surplus? Why?
Taxes
All governments—from the federal government in Washington, D.C., to the local
governments in small towns—use taxes to raise revenue for public projects, such
as roads, schools, and national defense. Because taxes are such an important
policy instrument, and because they affect our lives in many ways, we return to
the study of taxes several times throughout this book. In this section, we begin our
study of how taxes affect the economy.
To set the stage for our analysis, imagine that a local government decides to
hold an annual ice-cream celebration—with a parade, fireworks, and speeches by
town officials. To raise revenue to pay for the event, the town decides to place a
$0.50 tax on the sale of ice-cream cones. When the plan is announced, our two lobbying groups swing into action. The American Association of Ice-Cream Eaters
claims that consumers of ice cream are having trouble making ends meet, and it
argues that sellers of ice cream should pay the tax. The National Organization of
Ice-Cream Makers claims that its members are struggling to survive in a competitive market, and it argues that buyers of ice cream should pay the tax. The town
mayor, hoping to reach a compromise, suggests that half the tax be paid by the
buyers and half be paid by the sellers.
To analyze these proposals, we need to address a simple but subtle question:
When the government levies a tax on a good, who actually bears the burden of the
tax? The people buying the good? The people selling the good? Or if buyers and
sellers share the tax burden, what determines how the burden is divided? Can the
government simply legislate the division of the burden, as the mayor is suggesting, or is the division determined by more fundamental market forces? The term
tax incidence refers to how the burden of a tax is distributed among the various
people who make up the economy. As we will see, some surprising lessons about
tax incidence can be learned by applying the tools of supply and demand.
How Taxes on Sellers Affect Market Outcomes
tax incidence
the manner in which the
burden of a tax is shared
among participants in a
market
We begin by considering a tax levied on sellers of a good. Suppose the local government passes a law requiring sellers of ice-cream cones to send $0.50 to the government for each cone they sell. How does this law affect the buyers and sellers of
ice cream? To answer this question, we can follow the three steps in Chapter 4 for
analyzing supply and demand: (1) We decide whether the law affects the supply
curve or demand curve. (2) We decide which way the curve shifts. (3) We examine
how the shift affects the equilibrium price and quantity.
Step One The immediate impact of the tax is on the sellers of ice cream.
Because the tax is not levied on buyers, the quantity of ice cream demanded at
any given price is the same; thus, the demand curve does not change. By contrast,
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the tax on sellers makes the ice-cream business less profitable at any given price,
so it shifts the supply curve.
Step Two Because the tax on sellers raises the cost of producing and selling ice
cream, it reduces the quantity supplied at every price. The supply curve shifts to
the left (or, equivalently, upward).
In addition to determining the direction in which the supply curve moves, we
can also be precise about the size of the shift. For any market price of ice cream,
the effective price to sellers—the amount they get to keep after paying the tax—is
$0.50 lower. For example, if the market price of a cone happened to be $2.00, the
effective price received by sellers would be $1.50. Whatever the market price, sellers will supply a quantity of ice cream as if the price were $0.50 lower than it is.
Put differently, to induce sellers to supply any given quantity, the market price
must now be $0.50 higher to compensate for the effect of the tax. Thus, as shown
in Figure 6, the supply curve shifts upward from S1 to S2 by the exact size of the
tax ($0.50).
Step Three Having determined how the supply curve shifts, we can now compare the initial and the new equilibriums. The figure shows that the equilibrium
price of ice cream rises from $3.00 to $3.30, and the equilibrium quantity falls from
100 to 90 cones. Because sellers sell less and buyers buy less in the new equilibrium, the tax reduces the size of the ice-cream market.
Implications We can now return to the question of tax incidence: Who pays
the tax? Although sellers send the entire tax to the government, buyers and sellers share the burden. Because the market price rises from $3.00 to $3.30 when the
tax is introduced, buyers pay $0.30 more for each ice-cream cone than they did
without the tax. Thus, the tax makes buyers worse off. Sellers get a higher price
($3.30) from buyers than they did previously, but the effective price after paying
the tax falls from $3.00 before the tax to $2.80 with the tax ($3.30 – $0.50 = $2.80).
Thus, the tax also makes sellers worse off.
Figure
6
A Tax on Sellers
When a tax of $0.50 is levied on
sellers, the supply curve shifts up by
$0.50 from S1 to S2. The equilibrium
quantity falls from 100 to 90 cones.
The price that buyers pay rises from
$3.00 to $3.30. The price that sellers
receive (after paying the tax) falls
from $3.00 to $2.80. Even though the
tax is levied on sellers, buyers and
sellers share the burden of the tax.
Price of
Ice-Cream
Price
Cone
buyers
pay
$3.30
3.00
Price
2.80
without
tax
S1
A tax on sellers shifts
the supply curve
upward by the size of
the tax ($0.50).
Tax ($0.50)
Equilibrium without tax
Price
sellers
receive
Demand, D1
0
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-006.indd 122
S2
Equilibrium
with tax
90
100
Quantity of
Ice-Cream Cones
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CHAPTER 6 SUPPLY, DEMAND, AND GOVERNMENT POLICIES
123
To sum up, this analysis yields two lessons:
• Taxes discourage market activity. When a good is taxed, the quantity of the
good sold is smaller in the new equilibrium.
• Buyers and sellers share the burden of taxes. In the new equilibrium, buyers
pay more for the good, and sellers receive less.
How Taxes on Buyers Affect Market Outcomes
Now consider a tax levied on buyers of a good. Suppose that our local government passes a law requiring buyers of ice-cream cones to send $0.50 to the government for each ice-cream cone they buy. What are the effects of this law? Again,
we apply our three steps.
Step One The initial impact of the tax is on the demand for ice cream. The supply curve is not affected because, for any given price of ice cream, sellers have the
same incentive to provide ice cream to the market. By contrast, buyers now have
to pay a tax to the government (as well as the price to the sellers) whenever they
buy ice cream. Thus, the tax shifts the demand curve for ice cream.
Step Two We next determine the direction of the shift. Because the tax on
buyers makes buying ice cream less attractive, buyers demand a smaller quantity
of ice cream at every price. As a result, the demand curve shifts to the left (or,
equivalently, downward), as shown in Figure 7.
Once again, we can be precise about the size of the shift. Because of the $0.50
tax levied on buyers, the effective price to buyers is now $0.50 higher than the
market price (whatever the market price happens to be). For example, if the
market price of a cone happened to be $2.00, the effective price to buyers would
be $2.50. Because buyers look at their total cost including the tax, they demand a
quantity of ice cream as if the market price were $0.50 higher than it actually is.
In other words, to induce buyers to demand any given quantity, the market price
Price of
Ice-Cream
Price
Cone
buyers
pay
$3.30
3.00
Price
2.80
without
tax
Price
sellers
receive
Figure
Supply, S1
A Tax on Buyers
Equilibrium without tax
Tax ($0.50)
A tax on buyers shifts
the demand curve
downward by the size
of the tax ($0.50).
Equilibrium
with tax
D1
D2
0
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-006.indd 123
7
90
100
Quantity of
Ice-Cream Cones
When a tax of $0.50 is levied
on buyers, the demand curve
shifts down by $0.50 from
D1 to D2. The equilibrium
quantity falls from 100 to
90 cones. The price that
sellers receive falls from
$3.00 to $2.80. The price that
buyers pay (including the
tax) rises from $3.00 to $3.30.
Even though the tax is levied
on buyers, buyers and sellers
share the burden of the tax.
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PART II
HOW MARKETS WORK
must now be $0.50 lower to make up for the effect of the tax. Thus, the tax shifts
the demand curve downward from D1 to D2 by the exact size of the tax ($0.50).
Step Three Having determined how the demand curve shifts, we can now
see the effect of the tax by comparing the initial equilibrium and the new equilibrium. You can see in the figure that the equilibrium price of ice cream falls
from $3.00 to $2.80, and the equilibrium quantity falls from 100 to 90 cones. Once
again, the tax on ice cream reduces the size of the ice-cream market. And once
again, buyers and sellers share the burden of the tax. Sellers get a lower price
for their product; buyers pay a lower market price to sellers than they did previously, but the effective price (including the tax buyers have to pay) rises from
$3.00 to $3.30.
Implications If you compare Figures 6 and 7, you will notice a surprising
conclusion: Taxes levied on sellers and taxes levied on buyers are equivalent. In both
cases, the tax places a wedge between the price that buyers pay and the price that
sellers receive. The wedge between the buyers’ price and the sellers’ price is the
same, regardless of whether the tax is levied on buyers or sellers. In either case,
the wedge shifts the relative position of the supply and demand curves. In the
new equilibrium, buyers and sellers share the burden of the tax. The only difference between taxes on sellers and taxes on buyers is who sends the money to the
government.
The equivalence of these two taxes is easy to understand if we imagine that the
government collects the $0.50 ice-cream tax in a bowl on the counter of each icecream store. When the government levies the tax on sellers, the seller is required
to place $0.50 in the bowl after the sale of each cone. When the government levies
the tax on buyers, the buyer is required to place $0.50 in the bowl every time a
cone is bought. Whether the $0.50 goes directly from the buyer’s pocket into the
bowl, or indirectly from the buyer’s pocket into the seller’s hand and then into the
bowl, does not matter. Once the market reaches its new equilibrium, buyers and
sellers share the burden, regardless of how the tax is levied.
Can Congress Distribute the Burden of a
Payroll Tax?
If you have ever received a paycheck, you probably noticed that taxes were
deducted from the amount you earned. One of these taxes is called FICA, an
acronym for the Federal Insurance Contributions Act. The federal government
uses the revenue from the FICA tax to pay for Social Security and Medicare, the
income support and healthcare programs for the elderly. FICA is an example of a
payroll tax, which is a tax on the wages that firms pay their workers. In 2010, the
total FICA tax for the typical worker was 15.3 percent of earnings.
Who do you think bears the burden of this payroll tax—firms or workers?
When Congress passed this legislation, it tried to mandate a division of the tax
burden. According to the law, half of the tax is paid by firms, and half is paid by
workers. That is, half of the tax is paid out of firms’ revenues, and half is deducted
from workers’ paychecks. The amount that shows up as a deduction on your pay
stub is the worker contribution.
Our analysis of tax incidence, however, shows that lawmakers cannot so
easily dictate the distribution of a tax burden. To illustrate, we can analyze a
payroll tax as merely a tax on a good, where the good is labor and the price is
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CHAPTER 6 SUPPLY, DEMAND, AND GOVERNMENT POLICIES
Wage
Figure
Labor supply
Wage firms pay
Tax wedge
Wage without tax
Wage workers
receive
Labor demand
0
125
8
A Payroll Tax
A payroll tax places a wedge between
the wage that workers receive and the
wage that firms pay. Comparing wages
with and without the tax, you can see
that workers and firms share the tax
burden. This division of the tax burden
between workers and firms does not
depend on whether the government
levies the tax on workers, levies the
tax on firms, or divides the tax equally
between the two groups.
Quantity
of Labor
the wage. The key feature of the payroll tax is that it places a wedge between
the wage that firms pay and the wage that workers receive. Figure 8 shows the
outcome. When a payroll tax is enacted, the wage received by workers falls, and
the wage paid by firms rises. In the end, workers and firms share the burden
of the tax, much as the legislation requires. Yet this division of the tax burden
between workers and firms has nothing to do with the legislated division: The
division of the burden in Figure 8 is not necessarily fifty-fifty, and the same
outcome would prevail if the law levied the entire tax on workers or if it levied
the entire tax on firms.
This example shows that the most basic lesson of tax incidence is often overlooked in public debate. Lawmakers can decide whether a tax comes from the
buyer’s pocket or from the seller’s, but they cannot legislate the true burden of a
tax. Rather, tax incidence depends on the forces of supply and demand. Q
Elasticity and Tax Incidence
When a good is taxed, buyers and sellers of the good share the burden of the tax.
But how exactly is the tax burden divided? Only rarely will it be shared equally.
To see how the burden is divided, consider the impact of taxation in the two
markets in Figure 9. In both cases, the figure shows the initial demand curve, the
initial supply curve, and a tax that drives a wedge between the amount paid by
buyers and the amount received by sellers. (Not drawn in either panel of the figure is the new supply or demand curve. Which curve shifts depends on whether
the tax is levied on buyers or sellers. As we have seen, this is irrelevant for the
incidence of the tax.) The difference in the two panels is the relative elasticity of
supply and demand.
Panel (a) of Figure 9 shows a tax in a market with very elastic supply and relatively inelastic demand. That is, sellers are very responsive to changes in the price
of the good (so the supply curve is relatively flat), whereas buyers are not very
responsive (so the demand curve is relatively steep). When a tax is imposed on a
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126
PART II
Figure
HOW MARKETS WORK
9
(a) Elastic Supply, Inelastic Demand
Price
How the Burden of a Tax Is Divided
In panel (a), the supply curve is elastic,
and the demand curve is inelastic. In
this case, the price received by sellers
falls only slightly, while the price paid
by buyers rises substantially. Thus,
buyers bear most of the burden of
the tax. In panel (b), the supply curve
is inelastic, and the demand curve is
elastic. In this case, the price received
by sellers falls substantially, while the
price paid by buyers rises only slightly.
Thus, sellers bear most of the burden
of the tax.
1. When supply is more elastic than
demand . . .
Price buyers pay
Supply
Tax
2. . . . the
incidence of the
tax falls more
heavily on
consumers . . .
Price without tax
Price sellers
receive
3. . . . than
on producers.
Demand
Quantity
0
(b) Inelastic Supply, Elastic Demand
Price
1. When demand is more elastic than
supply . . .
Price buyers pay
Supply
Price without tax
3. . . . than on
consumers.
Tax
Price sellers
receive
0
2. . . . the
incidence of
the tax falls
more heavily
on producers . . .
Demand
Quantity
market with these elasticities, the price received by sellers does not fall much, so
sellers bear only a small burden. By contrast, the price paid by buyers rises substantially, indicating that buyers bear most of the burden of the tax.
Panel (b) of Figure 9 shows a tax in a market with relatively inelastic supply
and very elastic demand. In this case, sellers are not very responsive to changes
in the price (so the supply curve is steeper), whereas buyers are very responsive
(so the demand curve is flatter). The figure shows that when a tax is imposed, the
price paid by buyers does not rise much, but the price received by sellers falls
substantially. Thus, sellers bear most of the burden of the tax.
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CHAPTER 6 SUPPLY, DEMAND, AND GOVERNMENT POLICIES
127
The two panels of Figure 9 show a general lesson about how the burden of
a tax is divided: A tax burden falls more heavily on the side of the market that is
less elastic. Why is this true? In essence, the elasticity measures the willingness
of buyers or sellers to leave the market when conditions become unfavorable.
A small elasticity of demand means that buyers do not have good alternatives
to consuming this particular good. A small elasticity of supply means that
sellers do not have good alternatives to producing this particular good. When
the good is taxed, the side of the market with fewer good alternatives is less
willing to leave the market and must, therefore, bear more of the burden of
the tax.
We can apply this logic to the payroll tax discussed in the previous case study.
Most labor economists believe that the supply of labor is much less elastic than
the demand. This means that workers, rather than firms, bear most of the burden
of the payroll tax. In other words, the distribution of the tax burden is not at all
close to the fifty-fifty split that lawmakers intended.
© MBBIRDY/ISTOCKPHOTO.COM
Who Pays the Luxury Tax?
In 1990, Congress adopted a new luxury tax on items such as yachts, private
airplanes, furs, jewelry, and expensive cars. The goal of the tax was to raise
revenue from those who could most easily afford to pay. Because only the rich
could afford to buy such extravagances, taxing luxuries seemed a logical way
of taxing the rich.
Yet, when the forces of supply and demand took over, the outcome was quite
different from the one Congress intended. Consider, for example, the market for
yachts. The demand for yachts is quite elastic. A millionaire can easily not buy a
yacht; she can use the money to buy a bigger house, take a European vacation, or
leave a larger bequest to her heirs. By contrast, the supply of yachts is relatively
inelastic, at least in the short run. Yacht factories are not easily converted to
alternative uses, and workers who build yachts are not eager to change careers in
response to changing market conditions.
Our analysis makes a clear prediction in this case. With elastic demand and
inelastic supply, the burden of a tax falls largely on the suppliers. That is, a tax on
yachts places a burden largely on the firms and workers who build yachts because
they end up getting a significantly lower price for their product. The workers,
however, are not wealthy. Thus, the burden of a luxury tax falls more on the
middle class than on the rich.
The mistaken assumptions about the incidence of the luxury tax quickly
became apparent after the tax went into effect. Suppliers of luxuries made their
congressional representatives well aware of the economic hardship they experienced, and Congress repealed most of the luxury tax in 1993. Q
“If this boat were any
more expensive, we’d be
playing golf.”
QUICK QUIZ In a supply-and-demand diagram, show how a tax on car buyers of
$1,000 per car affects the quantity of cars sold and the price of cars. In another diagram, show how a tax on car sellers of $1,000 per car affects the quantity of cars sold
and the price of cars. In both of your diagrams, show the change in the price paid by
car buyers and the change in the price received by car sellers.
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PART II
HOW MARKETS WORK
Conclusion
The economy is governed by two kinds of laws: the laws of supply and demand
and the laws enacted by governments. In this chapter, we have begun to see how
these laws interact. Price controls and taxes are common in various markets in
the economy, and their effects are frequently debated in the press and among
policymakers. Even a little bit of economic knowledge can go a long way toward
understanding and evaluating these policies.
In subsequent chapters, we analyze many government policies in greater
detail. We examine the effects of taxation more fully and consider a broader range
of policies than we considered here. Yet the basic lessons of this chapter will not
change: When analyzing government policies, supply and demand are the first
and most useful tools of analysis.
SUMMAR Y
SUMMARY
• A price ceiling is a legal maximum on the price
of a good or service. An example is rent control.
If the price ceiling is below the equilibrium price,
then the price ceiling is binding, and the quantity
demanded exceeds the quantity supplied. Because
of the resulting shortage, sellers must in some way
ration the good or service among buyers.
• A price floor is a legal minimum on the price of
a good or service. An example is the minimum
wage. If the price floor is above the equilibrium
price, then the price floor is binding, and the quantity supplied exceeds the quantity demanded.
Because of the resulting surplus, buyers’ demands
for the good or service must in some way be
rationed among sellers.
• When the government levies a tax on a good,
the equilibrium quantity of the good falls. That
is, a tax on a market shrinks the size of the
market.
• A tax on a good places a wedge between the
price paid by buyers and the price received
by sellers. When the market moves to the new
equilibrium, buyers pay more for the good and
sellers receive less for it. In this sense, buyers
and sellers share the tax burden. The incidence
of a tax (that is, the division of the tax burden)
does not depend on whether the tax is levied on
buyers or sellers.
• The incidence of a tax depends on the price
elasticities of supply and demand. Most of the
burden falls on the side of the market that is
less elastic because that side of the market can
respond less easily to the tax by changing the
quantity bought or sold.
KEY CON
CO CEPTS
C
S
price ceiling, p. 112
price floor, p. 112
tax incidence, p. 121
QUEST IO
IONS
NS FOR
FO R R EVIEW
1. Give an example of a price ceiling and an example of a price floor.
2. Which causes a shortage of a good—a price
ceiling or a price floor? Justify your answer
with a graph.
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-006.indd 128
3. What mechanisms allocate resources when the
price of a good is not allowed to bring supply
and demand into equilibrium?
4. Explain why economists usually oppose controls on prices.
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CHAPTER 6 SUPPLY, DEMAND, AND GOVERNMENT POLICIES
5. Suppose the government removes a tax on
buyers of a good and levies a tax of the same
size on sellers of the good. How does this
change in tax policy affect the price that
buyers pay sellers for this good, the amount
buyers are out of pocket including the tax, the
amount sellers receive net of the tax, and the
quantity of the good sold?
129
6. How does a tax on a good affect the price paid
by buyers, the price received by sellers, and the
quantity sold?
7. What determines how the burden of a tax is
divided between buyers and sellers? Why?
PROBLEMS
PRO
BLEMS AND APPLICATIONS
APPLICATION S
1. Lovers of classical music persuade Congress to
impose a price ceiling of $40 per concert ticket.
As a result of this policy, do more or fewer
people attend classical music concerts?
2. The government has decided that the freemarket price of cheese is too low.
a. Suppose the government imposes a binding
price floor in the cheese market. Draw
a supply-and-demand diagram to show the
effect of this policy on the price of cheese and
the quantity of cheese sold. Is there a shortage or surplus of cheese?
b. Farmers complain that the price floor has
reduced their total revenue. Is this possible?
Explain.
c. In response to farmers’ complaints, the government agrees to purchase all the surplus
cheese at the price floor. Compared to the
basic price floor, who benefits from this new
policy? Who loses?
3. A recent study found that the demand and
supply schedules for Frisbees are as follows:
Price per
Frisbee
Quantity
Demanded
$11
10
9
8
7
6
1 million Frisbees
2
4
6
8
10
Quantity
Supplied
15 million Frisbees
12
9
6
3
1
a. What are the equilibrium price and quantity
of Frisbees?
b. Frisbee manufacturers persuade the government that Frisbee production improves
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-006.indd 129
scientists’ understanding of aerodynamics
and thus is important for national security. A
concerned Congress votes to impose a price
floor $2 above the equilibrium price. What is
the new market price? How many Frisbees
are sold?
c. Irate college students march on Washington
and demand a reduction in the price of
Frisbees. An even more concerned Congress
votes to repeal the price floor and impose a
price ceiling $1 below the former price floor.
What is the new market price? How many
Frisbees are sold?
4. Suppose the federal government requires beer
drinkers to pay a $2 tax on each case of beer
purchased. (In fact, both the federal and state
governments impose beer taxes of some sort.)
a. Draw a supply-and-demand diagram of the
market for beer without the tax. Show the
price paid by consumers, the price received
by producers, and the quantity of beer sold.
What is the difference between the price
paid by consumers and the price received by
producers?
b. Now draw a supply-and-demand diagram
for the beer market with the tax. Show the
price paid by consumers, the price received
by producers, and the quantity of beer sold.
What is the difference between the price
paid by consumers and the price received
by producers? Has the quantity of beer sold
increased or decreased?
5. A senator wants to raise tax revenue and make
workers better off. A staff member proposes
raising the payroll tax paid by firms and using
part of the extra revenue to reduce the payroll
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PART II
HOW MARKETS WORK
tax paid by workers. Would this accomplish
the senator’s goal? Explain.
6. If the government places a $500 tax on luxury
cars, will the price paid by consumers rise by
more than $500, less than $500, or exactly $500?
Explain.
7. Congress and the president decide that the
United States should reduce air pollution by
reducing its use of gasoline. They impose a
$0.50 tax for each gallon of gasoline sold.
a. Should they impose this tax on producers
or consumers? Explain carefully using a
supply-and-demand diagram.
b. If the demand for gasoline were more elastic, would this tax be more effective or less
effective in reducing the quantity of gasoline
consumed? Explain with both words and a
diagram.
c. Are consumers of gasoline helped or hurt by
this tax? Why?
d. Are workers in the oil industry helped or
hurt by this tax? Why?
8. A case study in this chapter discusses the federal minimum-wage law.
a. Suppose the minimum wage is above
the equilibrium wage in the market
for unskilled labor. Using a supplyand-demand diagram of the market for
unskilled labor, show the market wage,
the number of workers who are employed,
and the number of workers who are unemployed. Also show the total wage payments to unskilled workers.
b. Now suppose the secretary of labor proposes
an increase in the minimum wage. What
effect would this increase have on employment? Does the change in employment
depend on the elasticity of demand, the elasticity of supply, both elasticities, or neither?
c. What effect would this increase in the minimum wage have on unemployment? Does
the change in unemployment depend on the
elasticity of demand, the elasticity of supply,
both elasticities, or neither?
d. If the demand for unskilled labor were
inelastic, would the proposed increase in the
minimum wage raise or lower total wage
payments to unskilled workers? Would your
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-006.indd 130
9.
10.
11.
12.
answer change if the demand for unskilled
labor were elastic?
The U.S. government administers two programs that affect the market for cigarettes.
Media campaigns and labeling requirements
are aimed at making the public aware of the
dangers of cigarette smoking. At the same
time, the Department of Agriculture maintains
a price-support program for tobacco farmers,
which raises the price of tobacco above the
equilibrium price.
a. How do these two programs affect cigarette
consumption? Use a graph of the cigarette
market in your answer.
b. What is the combined effect of these two
programs on the price of cigarettes?
c. Cigarettes are also heavily taxed. What effect
does this tax have on cigarette consumption?
At Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox,
seating is limited to 39,000. Hence, the number
of tickets issued is fixed at that figure. Seeing a
golden opportunity to raise revenue, the City of
Boston levies a per ticket tax of $5 to be paid by
the ticket buyer. Boston sports fans, a famously
civic-minded lot, dutifully send in the $5 per
ticket. Draw a well-labeled graph showing the
impact of the tax. On whom does the tax burden
fall—the team’s owners, the fans, or both? Why?
A subsidy is the opposite of a tax. With a $0.50
tax on the buyers of ice-cream cones, the government collects $0.50 for each cone purchased;
with a $0.50 subsidy for the buyers of ice-cream
cones, the government pays buyers $0.50 for
each cone purchased.
a. Show the effect of a $0.50 per cone subsidy
on the demand curve for ice-cream cones,
the effective price paid by consumers, the
effective price received by sellers, and the
quantity of cones sold.
b. Do consumers gain or lose from this policy?
Do producers gain or lose? Does the government gain or lose?
In the spring of 2008, Senators John McCain
and Hillary Clinton (who were then running
for president) proposed a temporary elimination of the federal gasoline tax, effective only
during the summer of 2008, in order to help
consumers deal with high gasoline prices.
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CHAPTER 6 SUPPLY, DEMAND, AND GOVERNMENT POLICIES
a. During the summer, when gasoline demand
is high because of vacation driving, gasoline
refiners are operating near full capacity.
What does this fact suggest about the price
elasticity of supply?
b. In light of your answer to (a), who do you
predict would benefit from the temporary
gas tax holiday?
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-006.indd 131
131
For further information on topics in this chapter,
additional problems, examples, applications, online
quizzes, and more, please visit our website at www
.cengage.com/economics/mankiw
g g
.
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III
PART
Markets and
Welfare
133
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Consumers, Producers,
and the Efficiency
of Markets
7
W
hen consumers go to grocery stores to buy their turkeys for
Thanksgiving dinner, they may be disappointed that the price of
turkey is as high as it is. At the same time, when farmers bring to
market the turkeys they have raised, they wish the price of turkey
were even higher. These views are not surprising: Buyers always want to pay less,
and sellers always want to be paid more. But is there a “right price” for turkey
from the standpoint of society as a whole?
In previous chapters, we saw how, in market economies, the forces of supply
and demand determine the prices of goods and services and the quantities sold.
So far, however, we have described the way markets allocate scarce resources
without directly addressing the question of whether these market allocations are
135
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PART III
MARKETS AND WELFARE
welfare economics
the study of how the
allocation of resources
affects economic
well-being
desirable. In other words, our analysis has been positive (what is) rather than normative (what should be). We know that the price of turkey adjusts to ensure that
the quantity of turkey supplied equals the quantity of turkey demanded. But at
this equilibrium, is the quantity of turkey produced and consumed too small, too
large, or just right?
In this chapter, we take up the topic of welfare economics, the study of how
the allocation of resources affects economic well-being. We begin by examining
the benefits that buyers and sellers receive from taking part in a market. We then
examine how society can make these benefits as large as possible. This analysis
leads to a profound conclusion: The equilibrium of supply and demand in a market maximizes the total benefits received by buyers and sellers.
As you may recall from Chapter 1, one of the Ten Principles of Economics is
that markets are usually a good way to organize economic activity. The study of
welfare economics explains this principle more fully. It also answers our question
about the right price of turkey: The price that balances the supply and demand for
turkey is, in a particular sense, the best one because it maximizes the total welfare
of turkey consumers and turkey producers. No consumer or producer of turkeys
aims to achieve this goal, but their joint action directed by market prices moves
them toward a welfare-maximizing outcome, as if led by an invisible hand.
Consumer Surplus
We begin our study of welfare economics by looking at the benefits buyers receive
from participating in a market.
Willingness to Pay
willingness to pay
the maximum amount
that a buyer will pay for
a good
Table
1
Four Possible Buyers’
Willingness to Pay
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-007.indd 136
Imagine that you own a mint-condition recording of Elvis Presley’s first album.
Because you are not an Elvis Presley fan, you decide to sell it. One way to do so
is to hold an auction.
Four Elvis fans show up for your auction: John, Paul, George, and Ringo. Each
of them would like to own the album, but there is a limit to the amount that each
is willing to pay for it. Table 1 shows the maximum price that each of the four possible buyers would pay. Each buyer’s maximum is called his willingness to pay,
and it measures how much that buyer values the good. Each buyer would be eager
to buy the album at a price less than his willingness to pay, and he would refuse to
buy the album at a price greater than his willingness to pay. At a price equal to his
willingness to pay, the buyer would be indifferent about buying the good: If the
price is exactly the same as the value he places on the album, he would be equally
happy buying it or keeping his money.
Buyer
Willingness to Pay
John
Paul
George
Ringo
$100
80
70
50
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To sell your album, you begin the bidding at a low price, say, $10. Because all
four buyers are willing to pay much more, the price rises quickly. The bidding
stops when John bids $80 (or slightly more). At this point, Paul, George, and
Ringo have dropped out of the bidding because they are unwilling to bid any
more than $80. John pays you $80 and gets the album. Note that the album has
gone to the buyer who values it most highly.
What benefit does John receive from buying the Elvis Presley album? In a
sense, John has found a real bargain: He is willing to pay $100 for the album but
pays only $80 for it. We say that John receives consumer surplus of $20. Consumer
surplus is the amount a buyer is willing to pay for a good minus the amount the
buyer actually pays for it.
Consumer surplus measures the benefit buyers receive from participating in
a market. In this example, John receives a $20 benefit from participating in the
auction because he pays only $80 for a good he values at $100. Paul, George, and
Ringo get no consumer surplus from participating in the auction because they left
without the album and without paying anything.
Now consider a somewhat different example. Suppose that you had two identical Elvis Presley albums to sell. Again, you auction them off to the four possible
buyers. To keep things simple, we assume that both albums are to be sold for
the same price and that no buyer is interested in buying more than one album.
Therefore, the price rises until two buyers are left.
In this case, the bidding stops when John and Paul bid $70 (or slightly higher).
At this price, John and Paul are each happy to buy an album, and George and
Ringo are not willing to bid any higher. John and Paul each receive consumer surplus equal to his willingness to pay minus the price. John’s consumer surplus is
$30, and Paul’s is $10. John’s consumer surplus is higher now than in the previous
example because he gets the same album but pays less for it. The total consumer
surplus in the market is $40.
137
consumer surplus
the amount a buyer is
willing to pay for a good
minus the amount the
buyer actually pays for it
Using the Demand Curve to Measure
Consumer Surplus
Consumer surplus is closely related to the demand curve for a product. To see
how they are related, let’s continue our example and consider the demand curve
for this rare Elvis Presley album.
We begin by using the willingness to pay of the four possible buyers to find the
demand schedule for the album. The table in Figure 1 shows the demand schedule that corresponds to Table 1. If the price is above $100, the quantity demanded
in the market is 0 because no buyer is willing to pay that much. If the price is
between $80 and $100, the quantity demanded is 1 because only John is willing to
pay such a high price. If the price is between $70 and $80, the quantity demanded
is 2 because both John and Paul are willing to pay the price. We can continue this
analysis for other prices as well. In this way, the demand schedule is derived from
the willingness to pay of the four possible buyers.
The graph in Figure 1 shows the demand curve that corresponds to this demand
schedule. Note the relationship between the height of the demand curve and the
buyers’ willingness to pay. At any quantity, the price given by the demand curve
shows the willingness to pay of the marginal buyer, the buyer who would leave the
market first if the price were any higher. At a quantity of 4 albums, for instance, the
demand curve has a height of $50, the price that Ringo (the marginal buyer) is willing to pay for an album. At a quantity of 3 albums, the demand curve has a height
of $70, the price that George (who is now the marginal buyer) is willing to pay.
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PART III
Figure
MARKETS AND WELFARE
1
The table shows the demand schedule for the buyers in Table 1. The graph shows
the corresponding demand curve. Note that the height of the demand curve reflects
buyers’ willingness to pay.
The Demand Schedule
and the Demand Curve
Price
More than $100
$80 to $100
$70 to $80
$50 to $70
$50 or less
Buyers
None
John
John, Paul
John, Paul, George
John, Paul,
George, Ringo
Quantity
Demanded
0
1
2
3
4
Price of
Album
$100
John’s willingness to pay
80
Paul’s willingness to pay
70
George’s willingness to pay
50
Ringo’s willingness to pay
Demand
0
1
2
3
4
Quantity of
Albums
Because the demand curve reflects buyers’ willingness to pay, we can also
use it to measure consumer surplus. Figure 2 uses the demand curve to compute
consumer surplus in our two examples. In panel (a), the price is $80 (or slightly
above), and the quantity demanded is 1. Note that the area above the price and
below the demand curve equals $20. This amount is exactly the consumer surplus
we computed earlier when only 1 album is sold.
Panel (b) of Figure 2 shows consumer surplus when the price is $70 (or slightly
above). In this case, the area above the price and below the demand curve equals
the total area of the two rectangles: John’s consumer surplus at this price is $30
and Paul’s is $10. This area equals a total of $40. Once again, this amount is the
consumer surplus we computed earlier.
The lesson from this example holds for all demand curves: The area below the
demand curve and above the price measures the consumer surplus in a market. This is
true because the height of the demand curve measures the value buyers place on
the good, as measured by their willingness to pay for it. The difference between
this willingness to pay and the market price is each buyer’s consumer surplus.
Thus, the total area below the demand curve and above the price is the sum of the
consumer surplus of all buyers in the market for a good or service.
How a Lower Price Raises Consumer Surplus
Because buyers always want to pay less for the goods they buy, a lower price
makes buyers of a good better off. But how much does buyers’ well-being rise in
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In panel (a), the price of the good is $80, and the consumer surplus is $20. In panel (b),
the price of the good is $70, and the consumer surplus is $40.
Figure
139
2
Measuring Consumer
Surplus with the
Demand Curve
(b) Price = $70
(a) Price = $80
Price of
Album
Price of
Album
$100
$100
John’s consumer surplus ($30)
John’s consumer surplus ($20)
80
80
Paul’s consumer
surplus ($10)
70
70
50
50
Total
consumer
surplus ($40)
Demand
Demand
0
1
2
3
4
Quantity of
Albums
0
1
2
3
4
Quantity of
Albums
response to a lower price? We can use the concept of consumer surplus to answer
this question precisely.
Figure 3 shows a typical demand curve. You may notice that this curve gradually slopes downward instead of taking discrete steps as in the previous two figures. In a market with many buyers, the resulting steps from each buyer dropping
out are so small that they form, in essence, a smooth curve. Although this curve
has a different shape, the ideas we have just developed still apply: Consumer
surplus is the area above the price and below the demand curve. In panel (a),
consumer surplus at a price of P1 is the area of triangle ABC.
Now suppose that the price falls from P1 to P2, as shown in panel (b). The consumer surplus now equals area ADF. The increase in consumer surplus attributable to the lower price is the area BCFD.
This increase in consumer surplus is composed of two parts. First, those buyers who were already buying Q1 of the good at the higher price P1 are better off
because they now pay less. The increase in consumer surplus of existing buyers
is the reduction in the amount they pay; it equals the area of the rectangle BCED.
Second, some new buyers enter the market because they are willing to buy the
good at the lower price. As a result, the quantity demanded in the market increases
from Q1 to Q2. The consumer surplus these newcomers receive is the area of the
triangle CEF.
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PART III
Figure
MARKETS AND WELFARE
3
In panel (a), the price is P1, the quantity demanded is Q1, and consumer surplus equals
the area of the triangle ABC. When the price falls from P1 to P2, as in panel (b), the
quantity demanded rises from Q1 to Q2, and the consumer surplus rises to the area of
the triangle ADF. The increase in consumer surplus (area BCFD) occurs in part because
existing consumers now pay less (area BCED) and in part because new consumers enter
the market at the lower price (area CEF).
How the Price Affects
Consumer Surplus
(a) Consumer Surplus at Price P 1
(b) Consumer Surplus at Price P2
Price
Price
A
A
Initial
consumer
surplus
Consumer
surplus
P1
B
P1
C
Demand
0
Q1
Quantity
P2
0
C
B
Consumer surplus
to new consumers
F
D
Additional consumer
surplus to initial
consumers
E
Demand
Q1
Q2
Quantity
What Does Consumer Surplus Measure?
Our goal in developing the concept of consumer surplus is to make judgments
about the desirability of market outcomes. Now that you have seen what consumer
surplus is, let’s consider whether it is a good measure of economic well-being.
Imagine that you are a policymaker trying to design a good economic system.
Would you care about the amount of consumer surplus? Consumer surplus, the
amount that buyers are willing to pay for a good minus the amount they actually pay for it, measures the benefit that buyers receive from a good as the buyers
themselves perceive it. Thus, consumer surplus is a good measure of economic wellbeing if policymakers want to respect the preferences of buyers.
In some circumstances, policymakers might choose not to care about consumer
surplus because they do not respect the preferences that drive buyer behavior. For
example, drug addicts are willing to pay a high price for heroin. Yet we would not
say that addicts get a large benefit from being able to buy heroin at a low price
(even though addicts might say they do). From the standpoint of society, willingness to pay in this instance is not a good measure of the buyers’ benefit, and
consumer surplus is not a good measure of economic well-being, because addicts
are not looking after their own best interests.
In most markets, however, consumer surplus does reflect economic well-being.
Economists normally assume that buyers are rational when they make decisions.
Rational people do the best they can to achieve their objectives, given their opportunities. Economists also normally assume that people’s preferences should be
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141
respected. In this case, consumers are the best judges of how much benefit they
receive from the goods they buy.
QUICK QUIZ Draw a demand curve for turkey. In your diagram, show a price of
turkey and the consumer surplus at that price. Explain in words what this consumer
surplus measures.
Producer Surplus
We now turn to the other side of the market and consider the benefits sellers
receive from participating in a market. As you will see, our analysis of sellers’
welfare is similar to our analysis of buyers’ welfare.
Cost and the Willingness to Sell
Imagine now that you are a homeowner and you want to get your house painted.
You turn to four sellers of painting services: Mary, Frida, Georgia, and Grandma.
Each painter is willing to do the work for you if the price is right. You decide to
take bids from the four painters and auction off the job to the painter who will do
the work for the lowest price.
Each painter is willing to take the job if the price she would receive exceeds
her cost of doing the work. Here the term cost should be interpreted as the painters’ opportunity cost: It includes the painters’ out-of-pocket expenses (for paint,
brushes, and so on) as well as the value that the painters place on their own time.
Table 2 shows each painter’s cost. Because a painter’s cost is the lowest price she
would accept for her work, cost is a measure of her willingness to sell her services.
Each painter would be eager to sell her services at a price greater than her cost, and
she would refuse to sell her services at a price less than her cost. At a price exactly
equal to her cost, she would be indifferent about selling her services: She would be
equally happy getting the job or using her time and energy for another purpose.
When you take bids from the painters, the price might start high, but it quickly
falls as the painters compete for the job. Once Grandma has bid $600 (or slightly
less), she is the sole remaining bidder. Grandma is happy to do the job for this
price because her cost is only $500. Mary, Frida, and Georgia are unwilling to do
the job for less than $600. Note that the job goes to the painter who can do the
work at the lowest cost.
What benefit does Grandma receive from getting the job? Because she is willing
to do the work for $500 but gets $600 for doing it, we say that she receives producer
surplus of $100. Producer surplus is the amount a seller is paid minus the cost of
production. Producer surplus measures the benefit sellers receive from participating in a market.
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-007.indd 141
Seller
Cost
Mary
Frida
Georgia
Grandma
$900
800
600
500
cost
the value of everything
a seller must give up to
produce a good
producer surplus
the amount a seller is
paid for a good minus the
seller’s cost of providing it
Table
2
The Costs of Four
Possible Sellers
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Now consider a somewhat different example. Suppose that you have two
houses that need painting. Again, you auction off the jobs to the four painters. To
keep things simple, let’s assume that no painter is able to paint both houses and
that you will pay the same amount to paint each house. Therefore, the price falls
until two painters are left.
In this case, the bidding stops when Georgia and Grandma each offer to do the
job for a price of $800 (or slightly less). Georgia and Grandma are willing to do
the work at this price, while Mary and Frida are not willing to bid a lower price. At
a price of $800, Grandma receives producer surplus of $300, and Georgia receives
producer surplus of $200. The total producer surplus in the market is $500.
Using the Supply Curve to Measure
Producer Surplus
Just as consumer surplus is closely related to the demand curve, producer surplus
is closely related to the supply curve. To see how, let’s continue our example.
We begin by using the costs of the four painters to find the supply schedule
for painting services. The table in Figure 4 shows the supply schedule that corresponds to the costs in Table 2. If the price is below $500, none of the four painters
is willing to do the job, so the quantity supplied is zero. If the price is between
$500 and $600, only Grandma is willing to do the job, so the quantity supplied is 1.
If the price is between $600 and $800, Grandma and Georgia are willing to do the
job, so the quantity supplied is 2, and so on. Thus, the supply schedule is derived
from the costs of the four painters.
The graph in Figure 4 shows the supply curve that corresponds to this supply
schedule. Note that the height of the supply curve is related to the sellers’ costs.
Figure
4
The table shows the supply schedule for the sellers in Table 2. The graph shows
the corresponding supply curve. Note that the height of the supply curve reflects
sellers’ costs.
The Supply Schedule
and the Supply Curve
Price
Sellers
$900 or more
Mary, Frida, Georgia,
Grandma
Frida, Georgia, Grandma
Georgia, Grandma
Grandma
None
$800 to $900
$600 to $800
$500 to $600
Less than $500
Price of
House
Painting
Quantity
Supplied
4
3
2
1
0
Mary’s cost
$900
800
Frida’s cost
Georgia’s cost
600
500
0
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-007.indd 142
Supply
Grandma’s cost
1
2
3
4
Quantity of
Houses Painted
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143
At any quantity, the price given by the supply curve shows the cost of the marginal
seller, the seller who would leave the market first if the price were any lower. At a
quantity of 4 houses, for instance, the supply curve has a height of $900, the cost
that Mary (the marginal seller) incurs to provide her painting services. At a quantity of 3 houses, the supply curve has a height of $800, the cost that Frida (who is
now the marginal seller) incurs.
Because the supply curve reflects sellers’ costs, we can use it to measure producer surplus. Figure 5 uses the supply curve to compute producer surplus in
our two examples. In panel (a), we assume that the price is $600. In this case, the
quantity supplied is 1. Note that the area below the price and above the supply
curve equals $100. This amount is exactly the producer surplus we computed
earlier for Grandma.
Panel (b) of Figure 5 shows producer surplus at a price of $800. In this case, the
area below the price and above the supply curve equals the total area of the two
rectangles. This area equals $500, the producer surplus we computed earlier for
Georgia and Grandma when two houses needed painting.
The lesson from this example applies to all supply curves: The area below the
price and above the supply curve measures the producer surplus in a market. The logic
is straightforward: The height of the supply curve measures sellers’ costs, and the
difference between the price and the cost of production is each seller’s producer
surplus. Thus, the total area is the sum of the producer surplus of all sellers.
In panel (a), the price of the good is $600, and the producer surplus is $100. In panel (b),
the price of the good is $800, and the producer surplus is $500.
Figure
5
Measuring Producer
Surplus with the
Supply Curve
(a) Price = $600
(b) Price = $800
Price of
House
Painting
Supply
Price of
House
Painting
$900
$900
800
800
600
600
500
500
Supply
Total
producer
surplus ($500)
Georgia’s producer
surplus ($200)
Grandma’s producer
surplus ($100)
Grandma’s producer
surplus ($300)
0
1
2
3
4
Quantity of
Houses Painted
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-007.indd 143
0
1
2
3
4
Quantity of
Houses Painted
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PART III
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How a Higher Price Raises Producer Surplus
You will not be surprised to hear that sellers always want to receive a higher price for
the goods they sell. But how much does sellers’ well-being rise in response to a higher
price? The concept of producer surplus offers a precise answer to this question.
Figure 6 shows a typical upward-sloping supply curve that would arise in a
market with many sellers. Although this supply curve differs in shape from the
previous figure, we measure producer surplus in the same way: Producer surplus
is the area below the price and above the supply curve. In panel (a), the price is P1,
and producer surplus is the area of triangle ABC.
Panel (b) shows what happens when the price rises from P1 to P2. Producer surplus now equals area ADF. This increase in producer surplus has two parts. First,
those sellers who were already selling Q1 of the good at the lower price P1 are
better off because they now get more for what they sell. The increase in producer
surplus for existing sellers equals the area of the rectangle BCED. Second, some
new sellers enter the market because they are willing to produce the good at the
higher price, resulting in an increase in the quantity supplied from Q1 to Q2. The
producer surplus of these newcomers is the area of the triangle CEF.
As this analysis shows, we use producer surplus to measure the well-being of
sellers in much the same way as we use consumer surplus to measure the wellbeing of buyers. Because these two measures of economic welfare are so similar,
it is natural to use them together. And indeed, that is exactly what we do in the
next section.
Figure
6
In panel (a), the price is P1, the quantity demanded is Q1, and producer surplus equals
the area of the triangle ABC. When the price rises from P1 to P2, as in panel (b), the
quantity supplied rises from Q1 to Q2, and the producer surplus rises to the area of
the triangle ADF. The increase in producer surplus (area BCFD) occurs in part because
existing producers now receive more (area BCED) and in part because new producers
enter the market at the higher price (area CEF).
How the Price Affects
Producer Surplus
(b) Producer Surplus at Price P2
(a) Producer Surplus at Price P1
Price
Price
Supply
P2
P1
B
Producer
surplus
P1
C
A
0
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-007.indd 144
Supply
Additional producer
surplus to initial
producers
D
E
F
B
Initial
producer
surplus
C
Producer surplus
to new producers
A
Q1
Quantity
0
Q1
Q2
Quantity
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145
QUICK QUIZ Draw a supply curve for turkey. In your diagram, show a price of turkey
and the producer surplus at that price. Explain in words what this producer surplus
measures.
Market Efficiency
Consumer surplus and producer surplus are the basic tools that economists use
to study the welfare of buyers and sellers in a market. These tools can help us
address a fundamental economic question: Is the allocation of resources determined by free markets desirable?
The Benevolent Social Planner
To evaluate market outcomes, we introduce into our analysis a new, hypothetical character called the benevolent social planner. The benevolent social planner
is an all-knowing, all-powerful, well-intentioned dictator. The planner wants to
maximize the economic well-being of everyone in society. What should this planner do? Should he just leave buyers and sellers at the equilibrium that they reach
naturally on their own? Or can he increase economic well-being by altering the
market outcome in some way?
To answer this question, the planner must first decide how to measure the
economic well-being of a society. One possible measure is the sum of consumer
and producer surplus, which we call total surplus. Consumer surplus is the benefit
that buyers receive from participating in a market, and producer surplus is the
benefit that sellers receive. It is therefore natural to use total surplus as a measure
of society’s economic well-being.
To better understand this measure of economic well-being, recall how we measure consumer and producer surplus. We define consumer surplus as
Consumer surplus Value to buyers Amount paid by buyers.
Similarly, we define producer surplus as
Producer surplus Amount received by sellers Cost to sellers.
When we add consumer and producer surplus together, we obtain
Total surplus (Value to buyers Amount paid by buyers)
(Amount received by sellers Cost to sellers).
The amount paid by buyers equals the amount received by sellers, so the middle
two terms in this expression cancel each other. As a result, we can write total
surplus as
Total surplus Value to buyers Cost to sellers.
Total surplus in a market is the total value to buyers of the goods, as measured by
their willingness to pay, minus the total cost to sellers of providing those goods.
If an allocation of resources maximizes total surplus, we say that the allocation exhibits efficiency. If an allocation is not efficient, then some of the potential
gains from trade among buyers and sellers are not being realized. For example,
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-007.indd 145
efficiency
the property of a resource
allocation of maximizing
the total surplus received
by all members of society
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PART III
MARKETS AND WELFARE
equality
the property of distributing economic prosperity
uniformly among the
members of society
an allocation is inefficient if a good is not being produced by the sellers with lowest cost. In this case, moving production from a high-cost producer to a low-cost
producer will lower the total cost to sellers and raise total surplus. Similarly, an
allocation is inefficient if a good is not being consumed by the buyers who value
it most highly. In this case, moving consumption of the good from a buyer with a
low valuation to a buyer with a high valuation will raise total surplus.
In addition to efficiency, the social planner might also care about equality—
that is, whether the various buyers and sellers in the market have a similar level
of economic well-being. In essence, the gains from trade in a market are like a pie
to be shared among the market participants. The question of efficiency concerns
whether the pie is as big as possible. The question of equality concerns how the
pie is sliced and how the portions are distributed among members of society. In
this chapter, we concentrate on efficiency as the social planner’s goal. Keep in
mind, however, that real policymakers often care about equality as well.
Evaluating the Market Equilibrium
Figure 7 shows consumer and producer surplus when a market reaches the
equilibrium of supply and demand. Recall that consumer surplus equals the area
above the price and under the demand curve and producer surplus equals the
area below the price and above the supply curve. Thus, the total area between
the supply and demand curves up to the point of equilibrium represents the total
surplus in this market.
Is this equilibrium allocation of resources efficient? That is, does it maximize
total surplus? To answer this question, recall that when a market is in equilibrium,
the price determines which buyers and sellers participate in the market. Those
buyers who value the good more than the price (represented by the segment
Figure
7
Price
A
Consumer and Producer
Surplus in the Market
Equilibrium
Total surplus—the sum of
consumer and producer
surplus—is the area between the
supply and demand curves up to
the equilibrium quantity.
D
Supply
Consumer
surplus
Equilibrium
price
E
Producer
surplus
B
Demand
C
0
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-007.indd 146
Equilibrium
quantity
Quantity
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147
AE on the demand curve) choose to buy the good; buyers who value it less than
the price (represented by the segment EB) do not. Similarly, those sellers whose
costs are less than the price (represented by the segment CE on the supply curve)
choose to produce and sell the good; sellers whose costs are greater than the price
(represented by the segment ED) do not.
These observations lead to two insights about market outcomes:
1. Free markets allocate the supply of goods to the buyers who value them
most highly, as measured by their willingness to pay.
2. Free markets allocate the demand for goods to the sellers who can produce
them at the lowest cost.
Thus, given the quantity produced and sold in a market equilibrium, the social
planner cannot increase economic well-being by changing the allocation of consumption among buyers or the allocation of production among sellers.
But can the social planner raise total economic well-being by increasing or
decreasing the quantity of the good? The answer is no, as stated in this third
insight about market outcomes:
3. Free markets produce the quantity of goods that maximizes the sum of
consumer and producer surplus.
Figure 8 illustrates why this is true. To interpret this figure, keep in mind that the
demand curve reflects the value to buyers and the supply curve reflects the cost
to sellers. At any quantity below the equilibrium level, such as Q1, the value to the
marginal buyer exceeds the cost to the marginal seller. As a result, increasing the
Figure
Price
Supply
8
The Efficiency of the Equilibrium Quantity
Value
to
buyers
Cost
to
sellers
Cost
to
sellers
0
Value
to
buyers
Q1
Equilibrium
quantity
Value to buyers is greater than
cost to sellers.
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-007.indd 147
At quantities less than the equilibrium quantity, such
as Q1, the value to buyers exceeds the cost to sellers.
At quantities greater than the equilibrium quantity,
such as Q2, the cost to sellers exceeds the value to
buyers. Therefore, the market equilibrium maximizes
the sum of producer and consumer surplus.
Q2
Demand
Quantity
Value to buyers is less than
cost to sellers.
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quantity produced and consumed raises total surplus. This continues to be true
until the quantity reaches the equilibrium level. Similarly, at any quantity beyond
the equilibrium level, such as Q2, the value to the marginal buyer is less than the
cost to the marginal seller. In this case, decreasing the quantity raises total surplus, and this continues to be true until quantity falls to the equilibrium level. To
maximize total surplus, the social planner would choose the quantity where the
supply and demand curves intersect.
Together, these three insights tell us that the market outcome makes the sum of
consumer and producer surplus as large as it can be. In other words, the equilibrium outcome is an efficient allocation of resources. The benevolent social planner
can, therefore, leave the market outcome just as he finds it. This policy of leaving
well enough alone goes by the French expression laissez faire, which literally translates to “allow them to do.”
Society is lucky that the planner doesn’t need to intervene. Although it has been
a useful exercise imagining what an all-knowing, all-powerful, well-intentioned
dictator would do, let’s face it: Such characters are hard to come by. Dictators
are rarely benevolent, and even if we found someone so virtuous, he would lack
crucial information.
Suppose our social planner tried to choose an efficient allocation of resources
on his own, instead of relying on market forces. To do so, he would need to know
in the news
Ticket Scalping
To allocate resources efficiently, an economy must get goods—including
tickets to the Red Sox—to the consumers who value them most highly.
Like It or Not,
Scalping Is a Force in
the Free Market
BY CHARLES STEIN
C
hip Case devotes a class each year to
the reselling of sports tickets. He has
a section in his economics textbook on the
same subject.
But for Case, an economics professor
at Wellesley College, the sale and scalping
of sports tickets is more than an interesting
theoretical pursuit. Like Margaret Mead, he
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-007.indd 148
has done plenty of firsthand research in the
jungle, and he has the stories to prove it.
In 1984, Case waited in line for two
nights on Causeway Street to get $11
tickets to one of the classic Celtics-Lakers
championship series. The night before the
climactic seventh game, he was in the
shower when his daughter called out to
him: “Dad, there’s a guy on the phone who
wants to buy your Celtics tickets.” Case said
he wasn’t selling. “But Dad,” his daughter
added, “he’s willing to pay at least $1,000
apiece for them.”
Case was selling. An hour later, a limo
arrived at the house to pick up two tickets—
one that belonged to Case and one to a friend
of his. The driver left behind $3,000.
To Case and other economists, tickets
are a textbook case of the free market in
action. When supply is limited and demand
is not, prices rise and the people willing to
pay more will eventually get their hands on
the tickets. “As long as people can communicate, there will be trades,” said Case.
In the age of the Internet, buyers and
sellers can link up online, through eBay or
the sites devoted solely to ticket sales. But
even in the pre-Internet era, the process
worked, albeit more slowly. In 1984, the
man who bought Case’s tickets was a rich
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149
the value of a particular good to every potential consumer in the market and the
cost of every potential producer. And he would need this information not only for
this market but for every one of the many thousands of markets in the economy.
The task is practically impossible, which explains why centrally planned economies never work very well.
The planner’s job becomes easy, however, once he takes on a partner: Adam
Smith’s invisible hand of the marketplace. The invisible hand takes all the information about buyers and sellers into account and guides everyone in the market
to the best outcome as judged by the standard of economic efficiency. It is, truly,
a remarkable feat. That is why economists so often advocate free markets as the
best way to organize economic activity.
Should There Be a Market in Organs?
© ROBIN NELSON / PHOTOEDIT
Some years ago, the front page of the Boston Globe ran the headline “How a
Mother’s Love Helped Save Two Lives.” The newspaper told the story of Susan
Stephens, a woman whose son needed a kidney transplant. When the doctor
New Yorker whose son attended a Boston
private school. The man called a friend at
the school, who called someone else, who
eventually called Case. Where there is a will,
there is a way.
Trading happens no matter how hard
teams try to suppress it. The National
Football League gives some of its Super
Bowl tickets to its teams, and prohibits them
from reselling. Yet many of those same tickets wind up back on the secondary market.
Last season the league caught Minnesota
Vikings head coach Mike Tice selling his
tickets to a California ticket agency. “I regret
it,” Tice told Sports Illustrated afterward. Or
at least he regretted getting caught.
Like any good market, the one for
tickets is remarkably sensitive to information. Case has a story about that, too. He
was in Kenmore Square just before game
four of last year’s playoff series between
the Yankees and Red Sox. The Red Sox
had dropped the first three games and
there was no joy in Mudville. Scalpers were
unloading tickets for the fourth game for
only slightly more than face value. Tickets
for a possible fifth game were going for
even less.
But the Red Sox rallied to win game
four in extra innings. By 2 that morning,
said Case, top tickets for game five were
already selling for more than $1,000 online.
A bear market had become a bull market
instantaneously.
As defenders of the free market, economists generally see nothing wrong with
scalping. “Consenting adults should be able
to make economic trades when they think
it is to their mutual advantage,” said Greg
Mankiw, a Harvard economics professor
who recently stepped down as chairman
of President Bush’s Council of Economic
Advisers. Mankiw has a section about scalping in his own textbook.
Teams could eliminate scalping altogether by holding their own online auctions
for desirable tickets. Case doesn’t expect
that to happen. “People would burn down
Fenway Park if the Red Sox charged $2,000
for a ticket,” he said. The team would be
accused of price gouging. Yet if you went
online last week, you could find front-row
Green Monster seats for the July 15 game
against the Yankees selling for more than
$2,000. Go figure.
Case will be at Fenway Park this Friday.
He is taking his father-in-law to the game.
He paid a small fortune for the tickets
online. But he isn’t complaining. It’s the free
market at work.
Source: Boston Globe, May 1, 2005.
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-007.indd 149
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learned that the mother’s kidney was not compatible, he proposed a novel solution: If Stephens donated one of her kidneys to a stranger, her son would move
to the top of the kidney waiting list. The mother accepted the deal, and soon two
patients had the transplant they were waiting for.
The ingenuity of the doctor’s proposal and the nobility of the mother’s act cannot be doubted. But the story raises some intriguing questions. If the mother could
trade a kidney for a kidney, would the hospital allow her to trade a kidney for
an expensive, experimental cancer treatment that she could not otherwise afford?
Should she be allowed to exchange her kidney for free tuition for her son at the
hospital’s medical school? Should she be able to sell her kidney so she can use the
cash to trade in her old Chevy for a new Lexus?
As a matter of public policy, our society makes it illegal for people to sell their
organs. In essence, in the market for organs, the government has imposed a price
ceiling of zero. The result, as with any binding price ceiling, is a shortage of the
good. The deal in the Stephens case did not fall under this prohibition because no
cash changed hands.
Many economists believe that there would be large benefits to allowing a free
market in organs. People are born with two kidneys, but they usually need only
one. Meanwhile, a few people suffer from illnesses that leave them without any
working kidney. Despite the obvious gains from trade, the current situation is
dire: The typical patient has to wait several years for a kidney transplant, and
every year thousands of people die because a compatible kidney cannot be found.
If those needing a kidney were allowed to buy one from those who have two, the
price would rise to balance supply and demand. Sellers would be better off with
the extra cash in their pockets. Buyers would be better off with the organ they
need to save their lives. The shortage of kidneys would disappear.
Such a market would lead to an efficient allocation of resources, but critics of
this plan worry about fairness. A market for organs, they argue, would benefit the
rich at the expense of the poor because organs would then be allocated to those
most willing and able to pay. But you can also question the fairness of the current
system. Now, most of us walk around with an extra organ that we don’t really
need, while some of our fellow citizens are dying to get one. Is that fair? Q
QUICK QUIZ Draw the supply and demand for turkey. In the equilibrium, show producer and consumer surplus. Explain why producing more turkeys would lower total
surplus.
Conclusion: Market Efficiency and Market Failure
This chapter introduced the basic tools of welfare economics—consumer and
producer surplus—and used them to evaluate the efficiency of free markets. We
showed that the forces of supply and demand allocate resources efficiently. That
is, even though each buyer and seller in a market is concerned only about his or
her own welfare, they are together led by an invisible hand to an equilibrium that
maximizes the total benefits to buyers and sellers.
A word of warning is in order. To conclude that markets are efficient, we made
several assumptions about how markets work. When these assumptions do not
hold, our conclusion that the market equilibrium is efficient may no longer be
true. As we close this chapter, let’s consider briefly two of the most important of
these assumptions.
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-007.indd 150
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CONSUMERS, PRODUCERS, AND THE EFFICIENCY OF MARKETS
151
First, our analysis assumed that markets are perfectly competitive. In the
world, however, competition is sometimes far from perfect. In some markets, a
single buyer or seller (or a small group of them) may be able to control market
prices. This ability to influence prices is called market power. Market power can
cause markets to be inefficient because it keeps the price and quantity away from
the equilibrium of supply and demand.
Second, our analysis assumed that the outcome in a market matters only to
the buyers and sellers in that market. Yet, in the world, the decisions of buyers
and sellers sometimes affect people who are not participants in the market at all.
Pollution is the classic example. The use of agricultural pesticides, for instance,
affects not only the manufacturers who make them and the farmers who use
them, but many others who breathe air or drink water that has been polluted with
these pesticides. Such side effects, called externalities, cause welfare in a market
to depend on more than just the value to the buyers and the cost to the sellers.
Because buyers and sellers do not consider these side effects when deciding how
much to consume and produce, the equilibrium in a market can be inefficient
from the standpoint of society as a whole.
Market power and externalities are examples of a general phenomenon
called market failure—the inability of some unregulated markets to allocate
resources efficiently. When markets fail, public policy can potentially remedy
the problem and increase economic efficiency. Microeconomists devote much
effort to studying when market failure is likely and what sorts of policies are
best at correcting market failures. As you continue your study of economics,
you will see that the tools of welfare economics developed here are readily
adapted to that endeavor.
Despite the possibility of market failure, the invisible hand of the marketplace is extraordinarily important. In many markets, the assumptions
we made in this chapter work well, and the conclusion of market efficiency
applies directly. Moreover, we can use our analysis of welfare economics and
market efficiency to shed light on the effects of various government policies. In
the next two chapters, we apply the tools we have just developed to study two
important policy issues—the welfare effects of taxation and of international
trade.
SUMMARY
• Consumer surplus equals buyers’ willingness to • An allocation of resources that maximizes the
pay for a good minus the amount they actually
pay, and it measures the benefit buyers get from
participating in a market. Consumer surplus
can be computed by finding the area below the
demand curve and above the price.
• Producer surplus equals the amount sellers
receive for their goods minus their costs of production, and it measures the benefit sellers get
from participating in a market. Producer surplus
can be computed by finding the area below the
price and above the supply curve.
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-007.indd 151
sum of consumer and producer surplus is said
to be efficient. Policymakers are often concerned
with the efficiency, as well as the equality, of
economic outcomes.
• The equilibrium of supply and demand maximizes the sum of consumer and producer surplus.
That is, the invisible hand of the marketplace leads
buyers and sellers to allocate resources efficiently.
• Markets do not allocate resources efficiently in
the presence of market failures such as market
power or externalities.
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KEY CONC EPTS
welfare economics, p. 136
willingness to pay, p. 136
consumer surplus, p. 137
cost, p. 141
producer surplus, p. 141
efficiency, p. 145
equality, p. 146
QUEST IO
IONS
NS FOR
FO R REVIEW
R EVIEW
1. Explain how buyers’ willingness to pay, consumer
surplus, and the demand curve are related.
2. Explain how sellers’ costs, producer surplus,
and the supply curve are related.
3. In a supply-and-demand diagram, show producer
and consumer surplus in the market equilibrium.
4. What is efficiency? Is it the only goal of
economic policymakers?
5. What does the invisible hand do?
6. Name two types of market failure. Explain
why each may cause market outcomes to be
inefficient.
PROBLEMS AND APPLIC
APPLICATIO
ATIONS
NS
1. Melissa buys an iPod for $120 and gets consumer
surplus of $80.
a. What is her willingness to pay?
b. If she had bought the iPod on sale for $90,
what would her consumer surplus have
been?
c. If the price of an iPod were $250, what would
her consumer surplus have been?
2. An early freeze in California sours the lemon
crop. Explain what happens to consumer
surplus in the market for lemons. Explain
what happens to consumer surplus in the
market for lemonade. Illustrate your answers
with diagrams.
3. Suppose the demand for French bread rises.
Explain what happens to producer surplus
in the market for French bread. Explain what
happens to producer surplus in the market for
flour. Illustrate your answers with diagrams.
4. It is a hot day, and Bert is thirsty. Here is the
value he places on a bottle of water:
Value of first bottle
Value of second bottle
Value of third bottle
Value of fourth bottle
$7
5
3
1
a. From this information, derive Bert’s demand
schedule. Graph his demand curve for
bottled water.
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-007.indd 152
b. If the price of a bottle of water is $4, how
many bottles does Bert buy? How much
consumer surplus does Bert get from his
purchases? Show Bert’s consumer surplus in
your graph.
c. If the price falls to $2, how does quantity
demanded change? How does Bert’s
consumer surplus change? Show these
changes in your graph.
5. Ernie owns a water pump. Because pumping
large amounts of water is harder than pumping
small amounts, the cost of producing a bottle of
water rises as he pumps more. Here is the cost
he incurs to produce each bottle of water:
Cost of first bottle
Cost of second bottle
Cost of third bottle
Cost of fourth bottle
$1
3
5
7
a. From this information, derive Ernie’s supply
schedule. Graph his supply curve for bottled
water.
b. If the price of a bottle of water is $4, how
many bottles does Ernie produce and sell?
How much producer surplus does Ernie get
from these sales? Show Ernie’s producer
surplus in your graph.
c. If the price rises to $6, how does quantity
supplied change? How does Ernie’s producer
09/12/10 8:16 PM
CHAPTER 7
surplus change? Show these changes in your
graph.
6. Consider a market in which Bert from Problem 4
is the buyer and Ernie from Problem 5 is the
seller.
a. Use Ernie’s supply schedule and Bert’s
demand schedule to find the quantity
supplied and quantity demanded at prices of
$2, $4, and $6. Which of these prices brings
supply and demand into equilibrium?
b. What are consumer surplus, producer
surplus, and total surplus in this equilibrium?
c. If Ernie produced and Bert consumed one
fewer bottle of water, what would happen to
total surplus?
d. If Ernie produced and Bert consumed one
additional bottle of water, what would
happen to total surplus?
7. The cost of producing flat-screen TVs has fallen
over the past decade. Let’s consider some
implications of this fact.
a. Draw a supply-and-demand diagram to
show the effect of falling production costs on
the price and quantity of flat-screen TVs sold.
b. In your diagram, show what happens to
consumer surplus and producer surplus.
c. Suppose the supply of flat-screen TVs is
very elastic. Who benefits most from falling
production costs—consumers or producers of
these TVs?
8. There are four consumers willing to pay the
following amounts for haircuts:
Jerry: $7
Oprah: $2
Ellen: $8
Phil: $5
There are four haircutting businesses with the
following costs:
Firm A: $3
Firm B: $6
Firm C: $4
Firm D: $2
Each firm has the capacity to produce only
one haircut. For efficiency, how many haircuts
should be given? Which businesses should cut
hair and which consumers should have their hair
cut? How large is the maximum possible total
surplus?
9. Suppose a technological advance reduces the
cost of making computers.
a. Draw a supply-and-demand diagram to
show what happens to price, quantity,
consumer surplus, and producer surplus in
the market for computers.
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-007.indd 153
CONSUMERS, PRODUCERS, AND THE EFFICIENCY OF MARKETS
153
b. Computers and typewriters are substitutes.
Use a supply-and-demand diagram to show
what happens to price, quantity, consumer
surplus, and producer surplus in the market
for typewriters. Should typewriter producers
be happy or sad about the technological
advance in computers?
c. Computers and software are complements.
Draw a supply-and-demand diagram to
show what happens to price, quantity,
consumer surplus, and producer surplus in
the market for software. Should software
producers be happy or sad about the
technological advance in computers?
d. Does this analysis help explain why software
producer Bill Gates is one of the world’s
richest men?
10. A friend of yours is considering two cell phone
service providers. Provider A charges $120 per
month for the service regardless of the number
of phone calls made. Provider B does not have
a fixed service fee but instead charges $1 per
minute for calls. Your friend’s monthly demand
for minutes of calling is given by the equation
QD 150 50P, where P is the price of a
minute.
a. With each provider, what is the cost to your
friend of an extra minute on the phone?
b. In light of your answer to (a), how many
minutes would your friend talk on the phone
with each provider?
c. How much would he end up paying each
provider every month?
d. How much consumer surplus would he
obtain with each provider? (Hint: Graph the
demand curve and recall the formula for the
area of a triangle.)
e. Which provider would you recommend that
your friend choose? Why?
11. Consider how health insurance affects the
quantity of healthcare services performed.
Suppose that the typical medical procedure
has a cost of $100, yet a person with health
insurance pays only $20 out of pocket. Her
insurance company pays the remaining $80.
(The insurance company recoups the $80
through premiums, but the premium a person
pays does not depend on how many procedures
that person chooses to undertake.)
a. Draw the demand curve in the market
for medical care. (In your diagram, the
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154
PART III
MARKETS AND WELFARE
horizontal axis should represent the number
of medical procedures.) Show the quantity of
procedures demanded if each procedure has
a price of $100.
b. On your diagram, show the quantity of
procedures demanded if consumers pay
only $20 per procedure. If the cost of each
procedure to society is truly $100, and if
individuals have health insurance as just
described, will the number of procedures
performed maximize total surplus? Explain.
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-007.indd 154
c. Economists often blame the health insurance
system for excessive use of medical care.
Given your analysis, why might the use of
care be viewed as “excessive”?
d. What sort of policies might prevent this
excessive use?
For further information on topics in this chapter,
additional problems, applications, examples, online
quizzes, and more, please visit our website at www
.cengage.com/economics/mankiw
g g
/
/
.
.cengage.com/economics/mankiw.
09/12/10 8:16 PM
Application: The Costs
of Taxation
T
8
axes are often a source of heated political debate. In 1776, the anger of the
American colonists over British taxes sparked the American Revolution.
More than two centuries later, the American political parties continue to
debate the proper size and shape of the tax system. Yet no one would
deny that some level of taxation is necessary. As Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. once
said, “Taxes are what we pay for civilized society.”
Because taxation has such a major impact on the modern economy, we return
to the topic several times throughout this book as we expand the set of tools we
have at our disposal. We began our study of taxes in Chapter 6. There we saw
how a tax on a good affects its price and the quantity sold and how the forces
of supply and demand divide the burden of a tax between buyers and sellers.
In this chapter, we extend this analysis and look at how taxes affect welfare, the
economic well-being of participants in a market. In other words, we see how high
the price of civilized society can be.
155
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-008.indd 155
04/12/10 10:31 AM
156
PART III
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The effects of taxes on welfare might at first seem obvious. The government
enacts taxes to raise revenue and that revenue must come out of someone’s pocket.
As we saw in Chapter 6, both buyers and sellers are worse off when a good is
taxed: A tax raises the price buyers pay and lowers the price sellers receive. Yet to
understand more fully how taxes affect economic well-being, we must compare
the reduced welfare of buyers and sellers to the amount of revenue the government raises. The tools of consumer and producer surplus allow us to make this
comparison. The analysis will show that the cost of taxes to buyers and sellers
exceeds the revenue raised by the government.
The Deadweight Loss of Taxation
We begin by recalling one of the surprising lessons from Chapter 6: The outcome
is the same whether a tax on a good is levied on buyers or sellers of the good.
When a tax is levied on buyers, the demand curve shifts downward by the size
of the tax; when it is levied on sellers, the supply curve shifts upward by that
amount. In either case, when the tax is enacted, the price paid by buyers rises, and
the price received by sellers falls. In the end, the elasticities of supply and demand
determine how the tax burden is distributed between producers and consumers.
This distribution is the same regardless of how it is levied.
Figure 1 shows these effects. To simplify our discussion, this figure does not
show a shift in either the supply or demand curve, although one curve must shift.
Which curve shifts depends on whether the tax is levied on sellers (the supply
curve shifts) or buyers (the demand curve shifts). In this chapter, we can keep the
analysis general and simplify the graphs by not bothering to show the shift. The
key result for our purposes here is that the tax places a wedge between the price
buyers pay and the price sellers receive. Because of this tax wedge, the quantity
sold falls below the level that would be sold without a tax. In other words, a tax on
Figure
1
Price
The Effects of a Tax
A tax on a good places a wedge
between the price that buyers pay
and the price that sellers receive.
The quantity of the good sold falls.
Supply
Price buyers
pay
Size of tax
Price
without tax
Price sellers
receive
Demand
0
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-008.indd 156
Quantity
with tax
Quantity
without tax
Quantity
04/12/10 10:32 AM
CHAPTER 8
APPLICATION: THE COSTS OF TAXATION
157
a good causes the size of the market for the good to shrink. These results should
be familiar from Chapter 6.
How a Tax Affects Market Participants
Let’s use the tools of welfare economics to measure the gains and losses from a
tax on a good. To do this, we must take into account how the tax affects buyers,
sellers, and the government. The benefit received by buyers in a market is measured by consumer surplus—the amount buyers are willing to pay for the good
minus the amount they actually pay for it. The benefit received by sellers in a
market is measured by producer surplus—the amount sellers receive for the good
minus their costs. These are precisely the measures of economic welfare we used
in Chapter 7.
What about the third interested party, the government? If T is the size of the tax
and Q is the quantity of the good sold, then the government gets total tax revenue
of T ⫻ Q. It can use this tax revenue to provide services, such as roads, police,
and public education, or to help the needy. Therefore, to analyze how taxes affect
economic well-being, we use the government’s tax revenue to measure the public
benefit from the tax. Keep in mind, however, that this benefit actually accrues not
to the government but to those on whom the revenue is spent.
Figure 2 shows that the government’s tax revenue is represented by the rectangle between the supply and demand curves. The height of this rectangle is the
size of the tax, T, and the width of the rectangle is the quantity of the good sold,
Q. Because a rectangle’s area is its height times its width, this rectangle’s area is
T ⫻ Q, which equals the tax revenue.
“You know, the idea
of taxation with
representation doesn’t
appeal to me very
much, either.”
Welfare without a Tax To see how a tax affects welfare, we begin by considering welfare before the government imposes a tax. Figure 3 shows the supply-anddemand diagram and marks the key areas with the letters A through F.
Figure
Price
2
Tax Revenue
The tax revenue that the government
collects equals T ⫻ Q, the size of the
tax T times the quantity sold Q. Thus,
tax revenue equals the area of the
rectangle between the supply and
demand curves.
Supply
Price buyers
pay
Size of tax (T )
© J.B. HANDELSMAN. THE NEW YORKER
COLLECTION/ WWW.CARTOONBANK.COM
Tax
revenue
(T Q )
Price sellers
receive
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-008.indd 157
Demand
Quantity
sold (Q)
0
Quantity
with tax
Quantity
without tax
Quantity
04/12/10 10:32 AM
158
PART III
Figure
MARKETS AND WELFARE
3
How a Tax Affects Welfare
A tax on a good reduces consumer surplus (by the area B ⫹ C) and producer surplus
(by the area D ⫹ E). Because the fall in producer and consumer surplus exceeds tax
revenue (area B ⫹ D), the tax is said to impose a deadweight loss (area C ⫹ E).
Without Tax
A⫹B⫹C
D⫹E⫹F
None
Consumer Surplus
Producer Surplus
Tax Revenue
Total Surplus
With Tax
A
F
A⫹B⫹C⫹D⫹E⫹F
Change
⫺(B ⫹ C)
⫺(D ⫹ E)
⫹(B ⫹ D)
⫺(C ⫹ E)
B⫹D
A⫹B⫹D⫹F
The area C ⫹ E shows the fall in total surplus and is the deadweight loss of the tax.
Price
Price
buyers PB
pay
Supply
A
B
C
Price
without tax P1
Price
sellers PS
receive
E
D
F
Demand
0
Q2
Q1
Quantity
Without a tax, the equilibrium price and quantity are found at the intersection
of the supply and demand curves. The price is P1, and the quantity sold is Q1.
Because the demand curve reflects buyers’ willingness to pay, consumer surplus
is the area between the demand curve and the price, A ⫹ B ⫹ C. Similarly, because
the supply curve reflects sellers’ costs, producer surplus is the area between the
supply curve and the price, D ⫹ E ⫹ F. In this case, because there is no tax, tax
revenue equals zero.
Total surplus, the sum of consumer and producer surplus, equals the area
A ⫹ B ⫹ C ⫹ D ⫹ E ⫹ F. In other words, as we saw in Chapter 7, total surplus is
the area between the supply and demand curves up to the equilibrium quantity.
The first column of the table in Figure 3 summarizes these conclusions.
Welfare with a Tax Now consider welfare after the tax is enacted. The price
paid by buyers rises from P1 to PB, so consumer surplus now equals only area A
(the area below the demand curve and above the buyer’s price). The price received
by sellers falls from P1 to PS, so producer surplus now equals only area F (the area
above the supply curve and below the seller’s price). The quantity sold falls from
Q1 to Q2, and the government collects tax revenue equal to the area B ⫹ D.
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159
To compute total surplus with the tax, we add consumer surplus, producer
surplus, and tax revenue. Thus, we find that total surplus is area A ⫹ B ⫹ D ⫹ F.
The second column of the table summarizes these results.
Changes in Welfare We can now see the effects of the tax by comparing welfare before and after the tax is enacted. The third column of the table in Figure 3
shows the changes. The tax causes consumer surplus to fall by the area B ⫹ C and
producer surplus to fall by the area D ⫹ E. Tax revenue rises by the area B ⫹ D.
Not surprisingly, the tax makes buyers and sellers worse off and the government
better off.
The change in total welfare includes the change in consumer surplus (which is
negative), the change in producer surplus (which is also negative), and the change
in tax revenue (which is positive). When we add these three pieces together, we find
that total surplus in the market falls by the area C ⫹ E. Thus, the losses to buyers and
sellers from a tax exceed the revenue raised by the government. The fall in total surplus
that results when a tax (or some other policy) distorts a market outcome is called the
deadweight loss. The area C ⫹ E measures the size of the deadweight loss.
To understand why taxes impose deadweight losses, recall one of the Ten
Principles of Economics in Chapter 1: People respond to incentives. In Chapter 7,
we saw that free markets normally allocate scarce resources efficiently. That is,
the equilibrium of supply and demand maximizes the total surplus of buyers
and sellers in a market. When a tax raises the price to buyers and lowers the price
to sellers, however, it gives buyers an incentive to consume less and sellers an
incentive to produce less than they would in the absence of the tax. As buyers
and sellers respond to these incentives, the size of the market shrinks below its
optimum (as shown in the figure by the movement from Q1 to Q2). Thus, because
taxes distort incentives, they cause markets to allocate resources inefficiently.
deadweight loss
the fall in total surplus
that results from a market
distortion, such as a tax
Deadweight Losses and the Gains from Trade
To get some further insight into why taxes result in deadweight losses, consider
an example. Imagine that Joe cleans Jane’s house each week for $100. The opportunity cost of Joe’s time is $80, and the value of a clean house to Jane is $120. Thus,
Joe and Jane each receive a $20 benefit from their deal. The total surplus of $40
measures the gains from trade in this particular transaction.
Now suppose that the government levies a $50 tax on the providers of cleaning
services. There is now no price that Jane can pay Joe that will leave both of them
better off after paying the tax. The most Jane would be willing to pay is $120, but
then Joe would be left with only $70 after paying the tax, which is less than his
$80 opportunity cost. Conversely, for Joe to receive his opportunity cost of $80,
Jane would need to pay $130, which is above the $120 value she places on a clean
house. As a result, Jane and Joe cancel their arrangement. Joe goes without the
income, and Jane lives in a dirtier house.
The tax has made Joe and Jane worse off by a total of $40 because they have
each lost $20 of surplus. But note that the government collects no revenue from
Joe and Jane because they decide to cancel their arrangement. The $40 is pure
deadweight loss: It is a loss to buyers and sellers in a market that is not offset by
an increase in government revenue. From this example, we can see the ultimate
source of deadweight losses: Taxes cause deadweight losses because they prevent buyers
and sellers from realizing some of the gains from trade.
The area of the triangle between the supply and demand curves (area C ⫹ E in
Figure 3) measures these losses. This conclusion can be seen more easily in Figure 4
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Figure
MARKETS AND WELFARE
4
Price
The Deadweight Loss
When the government imposes
a tax on a good, the quantity
sold falls from Q1 to Q2. At every
quantity between Q1 and Q2, the
potential gains from trade among
buyers and sellers are not realized.
These lost gains from trade create
the deadweight loss.
Supply
Lost gains
from trade
PB
Size of tax
Price
without tax
PS
Cost to
sellers
Value to
buyers
0
Q2
Q1
Demand
Quantity
Reduction in quantity due to the tax
by recalling that the demand curve reflects the value of the good to consumers
and that the supply curve reflects the costs of producers. When the tax raises the
price to buyers to PB and lowers the price to sellers to PS, the marginal buyers and
sellers leave the market, so the quantity sold falls from Q1 to Q2. Yet as the figure
shows, the value of the good to these buyers still exceeds the cost to these sellers.
At every quantity between Q1 and Q2, the situation is the same as in our example
with Joe and Jane. The gains from trade—the difference between buyers’ value
and sellers’ cost—are less than the tax. As a result, these trades are not made
once the tax is imposed. The deadweight loss is the surplus lost because the tax
discourages these mutually advantageous trades.
QUICK QUIZ Draw the supply and demand curves for cookies. If the government
imposes a tax on cookies, show what happens to the price paid by buyers, the price
received by sellers, and the quantity sold. In your diagram, show the deadweight loss
from the tax. Explain the meaning of the deadweight loss.
The Determinants of the Deadweight Loss
What determines whether the deadweight loss from a tax is large or small? The
answer is the price elasticities of supply and demand, which measure how much
the quantity supplied and quantity demanded respond to changes in the price.
Let’s consider first how the elasticity of supply affects the size of the deadweight loss. In the top two panels of Figure 5, the demand curve and the size of
the tax are the same. The only difference in these figures is the elasticity of the
supply curve. In panel (a), the supply curve is relatively inelastic: Quantity supplied
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APPLICATION: THE COSTS OF TAXATION
161
responds only slightly to changes in the price. In panel (b), the supply curve is
relatively elastic: Quantity supplied responds substantially to changes in the
price. Notice that the deadweight loss, the area of the triangle between the supply
and demand curves, is larger when the supply curve is more elastic.
Similarly, the bottom two panels of Figure 5 show how the elasticity of demand
affects the size of the deadweight loss. Here the supply curve and the size of the
tax are held constant. In panel (c), the demand curve is relatively inelastic, and the
In panels (a) and (b), the demand curve and the size of the tax are the same, but the
price elasticity of supply is different. Notice that the more elastic the supply curve, the
larger the deadweight loss of the tax. In panels (c) and (d), the supply curve and
the size of the tax are the same, but the price elasticity of demand is different.
Notice that the more elastic the demand curve, the larger the deadweight loss of
the tax.
Figure
5
Tax Distortions and
Elasticities
(b) Elastic Supply
(a) Inelastic Supply
Price
Price
Supply
When supply is relatively
elastic, the deadweight
loss of a tax is large.
When supply is
relatively inelastic,
the deadweight loss
of a tax is small.
Supply
Size
of
tax
Size of tax
Demand
Quantity
0
Demand
Quantity
0
(d) Elastic Demand
(c) Inelastic Demand
Price
Price
Supply
Supply
Size of tax
When demand is
relatively inelastic,
the deadweight loss
of a tax is small.
Size
of
tax
When demand is relatively
elastic, the deadweight
loss of a tax is large.
Demand
0
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-008.indd 161
Demand
Quantity
0
Quantity
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deadweight loss is small. In panel (d), the demand curve is more elastic, and the
deadweight loss from the tax is larger.
The lesson from this figure is apparent. A tax has a deadweight loss because
it induces buyers and sellers to change their behavior. The tax raises the price
paid by buyers, so they consume less. At the same time, the tax lowers the price
received by sellers, so they produce less. Because of these changes in behavior,
the size of the market shrinks below the optimum. The elasticities of supply and
demand measure how much sellers and buyers respond to the changes in the
price and, therefore, determine how much the tax distorts the market outcome.
Hence, the greater the elasticities of supply and demand, the greater the deadweight loss
of a tax.
The Deadweight Loss Debate
Supply, demand, elasticity, deadweight loss—all this economic theory is enough
to make your head spin. But believe it or not, these ideas go to the heart of a profound political question: How big should the government be? The debate hinges
on these concepts because the larger the deadweight loss of taxation, the larger
the cost of any government program. If taxation entails large deadweight losses,
then these losses are a strong argument for a leaner government that does less
and taxes less. But if taxes impose small deadweight losses, then government
programs are less costly than they otherwise might be.
So how big are the deadweight losses of taxation? Economists disagree on the
answer to this question. To see the nature of this disagreement, consider the most
important tax in the U.S. economy: the tax on labor. The Social Security tax, the
Medicare tax, and to a large extent, the federal income tax are labor taxes. Many
state governments also tax labor earnings. A labor tax places a wedge between the
wage that firms pay and the wage that workers receive. For a typical worker, if all
forms of labor taxes are added together, the marginal tax rate on labor income—the
tax on the last dollar of earnings—is about 40 percent.
Although the size of the labor tax is easy to determine, the deadweight loss of
this tax is less straightforward. Economists disagree about whether this 40 percent
labor tax has a small or a large deadweight loss. This disagreement arises because
economists hold different views about the elasticity of labor supply.
Economists who argue that labor taxes do not greatly distort market outcomes
believe that labor supply is fairly inelastic. Most people, they claim, would work
full time regardless of the wage. If so, the labor supply curve is almost vertical,
and a tax on labor has a small deadweight loss.
Economists who argue that labor taxes are highly distorting believe that labor
supply is more elastic. While admitting that some groups of workers may supply
their labor inelastically, these economists claim that many other groups respond
more to incentives. Here are some examples:
• Many workers can adjust the number of hours they work—for instance,
•
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-008.indd 162
by working overtime. The higher the wage, the more hours they choose to
work.
Some families have second earners—often married women with children—
with some discretion over whether to do unpaid work at home or paid
work in the marketplace. When deciding whether to take a job, these second
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•
•
APPLICATION: THE COSTS OF TAXATION
earners compare the benefits of being at home (including savings on the cost
of child care) with the wages they could earn.
Many of the elderly can choose when to retire, and their decisions are partly
based on the wage. Once they are retired, the wage determines their incentive to work part time.
Some people consider engaging in illegal economic activity, such as the
drug trade, or working at jobs that pay “under the table” to evade taxes.
Economists call this the underground economy. In deciding whether to work
in the underground economy or at a legitimate job, these potential criminals
compare what they can earn by breaking the law with the wage they can
earn legally.
163
© JIM BOURG/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
CHAPTER 8
In each of these cases, the quantity of labor supplied responds to the wage (the
price of labor). Thus, these workers’ decisions are distorted when their labor
earnings are taxed. Labor taxes encourage workers to work fewer hours, second
earners to stay at home, the elderly to retire early, and the unscrupulous to enter
the underground economy.
These two views of labor taxation persist to this day. Indeed, whenever you see
two political candidates debating whether the government should provide more
services or reduce the tax burden, keep in mind that part of the disagreement may
rest on different views about the elasticity of labor supply and the deadweight
loss of taxation. Q
“What’s your position
on the elasticity of labor
supply?”
QUICK QUIZ The demand for beer is more elastic than the demand for milk. Would
a tax on beer or a tax on milk have a larger deadweight loss? Why?
Deadweight Loss and Tax Revenue as Taxes Vary
Taxes rarely stay the same for long periods of time. Policymakers in local, state,
and federal governments are always considering raising one tax or lowering
another. Here we consider what happens to the deadweight loss and tax revenue
when the size of a tax changes.
Figure 6 shows the effects of a small, medium, and large tax, holding constant
the market’s supply and demand curves. The deadweight loss—the reduction
in total surplus that results when the tax reduces the size of a market below
the optimum—equals the area of the triangle between the supply and demand
curves. For the small tax in panel (a), the area of the deadweight loss triangle is
quite small. But as the size of a tax rises in panels (b) and (c), the deadweight loss
grows larger and larger.
Indeed, the deadweight loss of a tax rises even more rapidly than the size of
the tax. This occurs because the deadweight loss is an area of a triangle, and the
area of a triangle depends on the square of its size. If we double the size of a tax,
for instance, the base and height of the triangle double, so the deadweight loss
rises by a factor of 4. If we triple the size of a tax, the base and height triple, so the
deadweight loss rises by a factor of 9.
The government’s tax revenue is the size of the tax times the amount of the
good sold. As the first three panels of Figure 6 show, tax revenue equals the area
of the rectangle between the supply and demand curves. For the small tax in panel
(a), tax revenue is small. As the size of a tax increases from panel (a) to panel (b),
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PART III
Figure
6
The deadweight loss is the reduction in total surplus due to the tax. Tax revenue
is the amount of the tax times the amount of the good sold. In panel (a), a small
tax has a small deadweight loss and raises a small amount of revenue. In panel (b),
a somewhat larger tax has a larger deadweight loss and raises a larger amount of
revenue. In panel (c), a very large tax has a very large deadweight loss, but because
it has reduced the size of the market so much, the tax raises only a small amount of
revenue. Panels (d) and (e) summarize these conclusions. Panel (d) shows that as the
size of a tax grows larger, the deadweight loss grows larger. Panel (e) shows that
tax revenue first rises and then falls. This relationship is sometimes called the Laffer
curve.
How Deadweight Loss
and Tax Revenue Vary
with the Size of a Tax
(a) Small Tax
(b) Medium Tax
Price
(c) Large Tax
Price
Deadweight
loss
Supply
Price
PB
Deadweight
loss
PB
Deadweight
loss
Supply
Supply
Tax revenue
PB
Tax revenue
Tax revenue
PS
Demand
PS
Q1 Quantity
0
Demand
Demand
PS
Q2
0
Q2
Q1 Quantity
(d) From panel (a) to panel (c),
deadweight loss continually increases.
0
Q2
Q1 Quantity
(e) From panel (a) to panel (c), tax
revenue first increases, then decreases.
Tax
Revenue
Deadweight
Loss
Laffer curve
0
Tax Size
0
Tax Size
tax revenue grows. But as the size of the tax increases further from panel (b) to
panel (c), tax revenue falls because the higher tax drastically reduces the size
of the market. For a very large tax, no revenue would be raised because people
would stop buying and selling the good altogether.
The last two panels of Figure 6 summarize these results. In panel (d), we see that
as the size of a tax increases, its deadweight loss quickly gets larger. By contrast,
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APPLICATION: THE COSTS OF TAXATION
165
panel (e) shows that tax revenue first rises with the size of the tax, but as the tax
gets larger, the market shrinks so much that tax revenue starts to fall.
The Laffer Curve and Supply-Side Economics
One day in 1974, economist Arthur Laffer sat in a Washington restaurant with
some prominent journalists and politicians. He took out a napkin and drew a figure
on it to show how tax rates affect tax revenue. It looked much like panel (e) of
our Figure 6. Laffer then suggested that the United States was on the downwardsloping side of this curve. Tax rates were so high, he argued, that reducing them
would actually increase tax revenue.
Most economists were skeptical of Laffer’s suggestion. The idea that a cut in tax
rates could increase tax revenue was correct as a matter of economic theory, but
there was more doubt about whether it would do so in practice. There was little evidence for Laffer’s view that U.S. tax rates had in fact reached such extreme levels.
Nonetheless, the Laffer curve (as it became known) captured the imagination of
Ronald Reagan. David Stockman, budget director in the first Reagan administration, offers the following story:
[Reagan] had once been on the Laffer curve himself. “I came into the Big Money
making pictures during World War II,” he would always say. At that time the
wartime income surtax hit 90 percent. “You could only make four pictures and
then you were in the top bracket,” he would continue. “So we all quit working after four pictures and went off to the country.” High tax rates caused less
work. Low tax rates caused more. His experience proved it.
When Reagan ran for president in 1980, he made cutting taxes part of his platform. Reagan argued that taxes were so high that they were discouraging hard
work. He argued that lower taxes would give people the proper incentive to work,
which would raise economic well-being and perhaps even tax revenue. Because
the cut in tax rates was intended to encourage people to increase the quantity of
labor they supplied, the views of Laffer and Reagan became known as supply-side
economics.
Economists continue to debate Laffer’s argument. Many believe that subsequent history refuted Laffer’s conjecture that lower tax rates would raise tax
revenue. Yet because history is open to alternative interpretations, other economists view the events of the 1980s as more favorable to the supply siders. To
evaluate Laffer’s hypothesis definitively, we would need to rerun history without
the Reagan tax cuts and see if tax revenues were higher or lower. Unfortunately,
that experiment is impossible.
Some economists take an intermediate position on this issue. They believe
that while an overall cut in tax rates normally reduces revenue, some taxpayers
at some times may find themselves on the wrong side of the Laffer curve. Other
things equal, a tax cut is more likely to raise tax revenue if the cut applies to those
taxpayers facing the highest tax rates. In addition, Laffer’s argument may be
more compelling when considering countries with much higher tax rates than the
United States. In Sweden in the early 1980s, for instance, the typical worker faced
a marginal tax rate of about 80 percent. Such a high tax rate provides a substantial
disincentive to work. Studies have suggested that Sweden would indeed have
raised more tax revenue if it had lowered its tax rates.
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in the news
New Research on Taxation
According to the latest research, most countries are on the left side of
the Laffer curve. But that is not true everywhere for all taxes.
ECB Paper Looks at
U.S., Europe Spots on
the Laffer Curve
BY BRIAN BLACKSTONE
E
conomist Arthur Laffer’s theory is that,
after a certain point, tax increases become
self-defeating by weakening economic
growth and draining tax revenues. There are
two points—zero and 100%—where the
government receives no revenue. The trick is
finding the peak point between the two.
The Laffer curve served as an intellectual foundation for large-scale tax cuts
in the U.S. in the early 1980s. Now, the
U.S. is on the “left side” of the Laffer curve
even more so than Europe, especially when
it comes to labor taxes, meaning higher tax
rates would still bring in added revenues, a
European Central Bank paper concludes.
“We find that the U.S. can increase tax
revenues by 30% by raising labor taxes but
only 6% by raising capital income taxes,
while the same numbers for EU-14 are
8% and 1% respectively,” ECB economist
Mathias Trabandt and University of Chicago
economist Harald Uhlig wrote. Germany
could raise about another 10% in revenues
by increasing labor taxes, they estimate, but
just 2% via capital taxes.
Only 32% of a cut in U.S. labor taxes
would be self-financed, the economists
note, versus 54% self-financing in Europe.
Just over 50% of a cut in U.S. capital taxes
would pay for itself, the authors estimate,
versus 79% in Europe.
“In terms of a ‘Laffer hill’, both the
U.S. and the EU-14 are on the left side of
the peak with respect to their capital tax
rates,” the authors wrote. But in the case
of Denmark and Sweden, “these countries
are on the ‘slippery side’ of the Laffer curve
and can actually improve their budgetary
situation by cutting capital taxes, according
to our calculations,” they wrote.
Source: Wall Street Journal, Real Time Economics blog, April 21, 2010.
Economists disagree about these issues in part because there is no consensus
about the size of the relevant elasticities. The more elastic supply and demand are
in any market, the more taxes in the market distort behavior, and the more likely
it is that a tax cut will increase tax revenue. There is no debate, however, about
the general lesson: How much revenue the government gains or loses from a tax
change cannot be computed just by looking at tax rates. It also depends on how
the tax change affects people’s behavior. Q
QUICK QUIZ If the government doubles the tax on gasoline, can you be sure that
revenue from the gasoline tax will rise? Can you be sure that the deadweight loss from
the gasoline tax will rise? Explain.
Conclusion
In this chapter we have used the tools developed in the previous chapter to further
our understanding of taxes. One of the Ten Principles of Economics discussed in
Chapter 1 is that markets are usually a good way to organize economic activity. In
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APPLICATION: THE COSTS OF TAXATION
167
Chapter 7, we used the concepts of producer and consumer surplus to make this
principle more precise. Here we have seen that when the government imposes
taxes on buyers or sellers of a good, society loses some of the benefits of market
efficiency. Taxes are costly to market participants not only because taxes transfer
resources from those participants to the government but also because they alter
incentives and distort market outcomes.
The analysis presented here and in Chapter 6 should give you a good basis for
understanding the economic impact of taxes, but this is not the end of the story.
Microeconomists study how best to design a tax system, including how to strike
the right balance between equality and efficiency. Macroeconomists study how
taxes influence the overall economy and how policymakers can use the tax system
to stabilize economic activity and to achieve more rapid economic growth. So as
you continue your study of economics, don’t be surprised when the subject of
taxation comes up yet again.
SUMMARY
• A tax on a good reduces the welfare of buyers
and sellers of the good, and the reduction in
consumer and producer surplus usually exceeds
the revenue raised by the government. The fall
in total surplus—the sum of consumer surplus,
producer surplus, and tax revenue—is called the
deadweight loss of the tax.
• Taxes have deadweight losses because they cause
buyers to consume less and sellers to produce less,
and these changes in behavior shrink the size of
the market below the level that maximizes total
surplus. Because the elasticities of supply and
demand measure how much market participants
respond to market conditions, larger elasticities
imply larger deadweight losses.
• As a tax grows larger, it distorts incentives more,
and its deadweight loss grows larger. Because a
tax reduces the size of the market, however, tax
revenue does not continually increase. It first
rises with the size of a tax, but if a tax gets large
enough, tax revenue starts to fall.
KEY CONCEPT
CO
CONC
C EPT
deadweight loss, p. 159
QUESTIONS FOR
FO R REVIEW
R EVIEW
1. What happens to consumer and producer
surplus when the sale of a good is taxed? How
does the change in consumer and producer
surplus compare to the tax revenue? Explain.
2. Draw a supply-and-demand diagram with a tax
on the sale of the good. Show the deadweight
loss. Show the tax revenue.
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-008.indd 167
3. How do the elasticities of supply and demand
affect the deadweight loss of a tax? Why do
they have this effect?
4. Why do experts disagree about whether labor
taxes have small or large deadweight losses?
5. What happens to the deadweight loss and tax
revenue when a tax is increased?
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PROBLEMS
PRO
O BLEMS
S AND APPLICATIO
APPLICATIONS
C
O NS
S
1. The market for pizza is characterized by a
downward-sloping demand curve and an
upward-sloping supply curve.
a. Draw the competitive market equilibrium.
Label the price, quantity, consumer
surplus, and producer surplus. Is there any
deadweight loss? Explain.
b. Suppose that the government forces each
pizzeria to pay a $1 tax on each pizza sold.
Illustrate the effect of this tax on the pizza
market, being sure to label the consumer
surplus, producer surplus, government
revenue, and deadweight loss. How does
each area compare to the pre-tax case?
c. If the tax were removed, pizza eaters and sellers
would be better off, but the government would
lose tax revenue. Suppose that consumers and
producers voluntarily transferred some of their
gains to the government. Could all parties
(including the government) be better off than
they were with a tax? Explain using the labeled
areas in your graph.
2. Evaluate the following two statements. Do you
agree? Why or why not?
a. “A tax that has no deadweight loss cannot
raise any revenue for the government.”
b. “A tax that raises no revenue for the
government cannot have any deadweight
loss.”
3. Consider the market for rubber bands.
a. If this market has very elastic supply and
very inelastic demand, how would the
burden of a tax on rubber bands be shared
between consumers and producers? Use
the tools of consumer surplus and producer
surplus in your answer.
b. If this market has very inelastic supply and
very elastic demand, how would the burden
of a tax on rubber bands be shared between
consumers and producers? Contrast your
answer with your answer to part (a).
4. Suppose that the government imposes a tax on
heating oil.
a. Would the deadweight loss from this tax
likely be greater in the first year after it is
imposed or in the fifth year? Explain.
b. Would the revenue collected from this tax
likely be greater in the first year after it is
imposed or in the fifth year? Explain.
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-008.indd 168
5. After economics class one day, your friend
suggests that taxing food would be a good way
to raise revenue because the demand for food
is quite inelastic. In what sense is taxing food a
“good” way to raise revenue? In what sense is it
not a “good” way to raise revenue?
6. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, the late senator from
New York, once introduced a bill that would
levy a 10,000 percent tax on certain hollowtipped bullets.
a. Do you expect that this tax would raise much
revenue? Why or why not?
b. Even if the tax would raise no revenue,
why might Senator Moynihan have
proposed it?
7. The government places a tax on the purchase of
socks.
a. Illustrate the effect of this tax on equilibrium
price and quantity in the sock market.
Identify the following areas both before and
after the imposition of the tax: total spending
by consumers, total revenue for producers,
and government tax revenue.
b. Does the price received by producers rise or
fall? Can you tell whether total receipts for
producers rise or fall? Explain.
c. Does the price paid by consumers rise or
fall? Can you tell whether total spending by
consumers rises or falls? Explain carefully.
(Hint: Think about elasticity.) If total
consumer spending falls, does consumer
surplus rise? Explain.
8. Suppose the government currently raises $100
million through a 1-cent tax on widgets, and
another $100 million through a 10-cent tax on
gadgets. If the government doubled the tax rate
on widgets and eliminated the tax on gadgets,
would it raise more tax revenue than it does
today, less tax revenue, or the same amount?
Explain.
9. This chapter analyzed the welfare effects of
a tax on a good. Consider now the opposite
policy. Suppose that the government subsidizes
a good: For each unit of the good sold, the
government pays $2 to the buyer. How does
the subsidy affect consumer surplus, producer
surplus, tax revenue, and total surplus?
Does a subsidy lead to a deadweight loss?
Explain.
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CHAPTER 8
10. Hotel rooms in Smalltown go for $100, and
1,000 rooms are rented on a typical day.
a. To raise revenue, the mayor decides to charge
hotels a tax of $10 per rented room. After
the tax is imposed, the going rate for hotel
rooms rises to $108, and the number of rooms
rented falls to 900. Calculate the amount of
revenue this tax raises for Smalltown and the
deadweight loss of the tax. (Hint: The area of
a triangle is 1⁄2 ⫻ base ⫻ height.)
b. The mayor now doubles the tax to $20. The
price rises to $116, and the number of rooms
rented falls to 800. Calculate tax revenue
and deadweight loss with this larger tax. Do
they double, more than double, or less than
double? Explain.
11. Suppose that a market is described by the
following supply and demand equations:
QS ⫽ 2P
QD ⫽ 300 – P
a. Solve for the equilibrium price and the
equilibrium quantity.
b. Suppose that a tax of T is placed on buyers,
so the new demand equation is
QD ⫽ 300 – (P ⫹ T).
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-008.indd 169
APPLICATION: THE COSTS OF TAXATION
169
Solve for the new equilibrium. What happens
to the price received by sellers, the price paid
by buyers, and the quantity sold?
c. Tax revenue is T ⫻ Q. Use your answer to
part (b) to solve for tax revenue as a function
of T. Graph this relationship for T between 0
and 300.
d. The deadweight loss of a tax is the area of
the triangle between the supply and demand
curves. Recalling that the area of a triangle
is 1⁄2 ⫻ base ⫻ height, solve for deadweight
loss as a function of T. Graph this relationship
for T between 0 and 300. (Hint: Looking
sideways, the base of the deadweight loss
triangle is T, and the height is the difference
between the quantity sold with the tax and
the quantity sold without the tax.)
e. The government now levies a tax on this
good of $200 per unit. Is this a good policy?
Why or why not? Can you propose a better
policy?
For further information on topics in this chapter,
additional problems, applications, examples, online
quizzes, and more, please visit our website at www
.cengage.com/economics/mankiw.
04/12/10 10:32 AM
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Application:
International Trade
9
I
f you check the labels on the clothes you are now wearing, you will probably
find that some of your clothes were made in another country. A century ago,
the textile and clothing industry was a major part of the U.S. economy, but
that is no longer the case. Faced with foreign competitors that can produce
quality goods at low cost, many U.S. firms have found it increasingly difficult
to produce and sell textiles and clothing at a profit. As a result, they have laid
off their workers and shut down their factories. Today, much of the textiles and
clothing that Americans consume are imported.
The story of the textile industry raises important questions for economic policy:
How does international trade affect economic well-being? Who gains and who
loses from free trade among countries, and how do the gains compare to the
losses?
Chapter 3 introduced the study of international trade by applying the principle
of comparative advantage. According to this principle, all countries can benefit
171
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PART III
MARKETS AND WELFARE
from trading with one another because trade allows each country to specialize in
doing what it does best. But the analysis in Chapter 3 was incomplete. It did not
explain how the international marketplace achieves these gains from trade or how
the gains are distributed among various economic participants.
We now return to the study of international trade and take up these questions.
Over the past several chapters, we have developed many tools for analyzing
how markets work: supply, demand, equilibrium, consumer surplus, producer
surplus, and so on. With these tools, we can learn more about how international
trade affects economic well-being.
The Determinants of Trade
Consider the market for textiles. The textile market is well suited to examining
the gains and losses from international trade: Textiles are made in many countries
around the world, and there is much world trade in textiles. Moreover, the textile
market is one in which policymakers often consider (and sometimes implement)
trade restrictions to protect domestic producers from foreign competitors. We
examine here the textile market in the imaginary country of Isoland.
The Equilibrium without Trade
As our story begins, the Isolandian textile market is isolated from the rest of the
world. By government decree, no one in Isoland is allowed to import or export
textiles, and the penalty for violating the decree is so large that no one dares try.
Because there is no international trade, the market for textiles in Isoland consists solely of Isolandian buyers and sellers. As Figure 1 shows, the domestic price
adjusts to balance the quantity supplied by domestic sellers and the quantity
demanded by domestic buyers. The figure shows the consumer and producer surplus in the equilibrium without trade. The sum of consumer and producer surplus
measures the total benefits that buyers and sellers receive from participating in
the textile market.
Figure
1
The Equilibrium without
International Trade
When an economy cannot trade
in world markets, the price
adjusts to balance domestic
supply and demand. This figure
shows consumer and producer
surplus in an equilibrium without
international trade for the textile
market in the imaginary country
of Isoland.
Price of
Textiles
Domestic
supply
Consumer
surplus
Equilibrium
price
Domestic
demand
0
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-009.indd 172
Producer
surplus
Equilibrium
quantity
Quantity of
Textiles
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CHAPTER 9
APPLICATION: INTERNATIONAL TRADE
173
Now suppose that, in an election upset, Isoland elects a new president. The
president campaigned on a platform of “change” and promised the voters bold
new ideas. Her first act is to assemble a team of economists to evaluate Isolandian
trade policy. She asks them to report on three questions:
• If the government allows Isolandians to import and export textiles, what
•
•
will happen to the price of textiles and the quantity of textiles sold in the
domestic textile market?
Who will gain from free trade in textiles and who will lose, and will the
gains exceed the losses?
Should a tariff (a tax on textile imports) be part of the new trade policy?
After reviewing supply and demand in their favorite textbook (this one, of
course), the Isolandian economics team begins its analysis.
The World Price and Comparative Advantage
The first issue our economists take up is whether Isoland is likely to become a
textile importer or a textile exporter. In other words, if free trade is allowed, will
Isolandians end up buying or selling textiles in world markets?
To answer this question, the economists compare the current Isolandian
price of textiles to the price of textiles in other countries. We call the price
prevailing in world markets the world price. If the world price of textiles is
higher than the domestic price, then Isoland will export textiles once trade
is permitted. Isolandian textile producers will be eager to receive the higher
prices available abroad and will start selling their textiles to buyers in other
countries. Conversely, if the world price of textiles is lower than the domestic
price, then Isoland will import textiles. Because foreign sellers offer a better
price, Isolandian textile consumers will quickly start buying textiles from other
countries.
In essence, comparing the world price and the domestic price before trade
indicates whether Isoland has a comparative advantage in producing textiles.
The domestic price reflects the opportunity cost of textiles: It tells us how much
an Isolandian must give up to obtain one unit of textiles. If the domestic price is
low, the cost of producing textiles in Isoland is low, suggesting that Isoland has
a comparative advantage in producing textiles relative to the rest of the world. If
the domestic price is high, then the cost of producing textiles in Isoland is high,
suggesting that foreign countries have a comparative advantage in producing
textiles.
As we saw in Chapter 3, trade among nations is ultimately based on comparative advantage. That is, trade is beneficial because it allows each nation to specialize in doing what it does best. By comparing the world price and the domestic
price before trade, we can determine whether Isoland is better or worse at producing textiles than the rest of the world.
world price
the price of a good that
prevails in the world
market for that good
QUICK QUIZ The country Autarka does not allow international trade. In Autarka,
you can buy a wool suit for 3 ounces of gold. Meanwhile, in neighboring countries,
you can buy the same suit for 2 ounces of gold. If Autarka were to allow free trade,
would it import or export wool suits? Why?
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MARKETS AND WELFARE
The Winners and Losers from Trade
To analyze the welfare effects of free trade, the Isolandian economists begin with
the assumption that Isoland is a small economy compared to the rest of the world.
This small-economy assumption means that Isoland’s actions have little effect on
world markets. Specifically, any change in Isoland’s trade policy will not affect
the world price of textiles. The Isolandians are said to be price takers in the world
economy. That is, they take the world price of textiles as given. Isoland can be an
exporting country by selling textiles at this price or an importing country by buying textiles at this price.
The small-economy assumption is not necessary to analyze the gains and losses
from international trade. But the Isolandian economists know from experience
(and from reading Chapter 2 of this book) that making simplifying assumptions
is a key part of building a useful economic model. The assumption that Isoland
is a small economy simplifies the analysis, and the basic lessons do not change in
the more complicated case of a large economy.
The Gains and Losses of an Exporting Country
Figure 2 shows the Isolandian textile market when the domestic equilibrium
price before trade is below the world price. Once trade is allowed, the domestic
price rises to equal the world price. No seller of textiles would accept less than the
world price, and no buyer would pay more than the world price.
Figure
2
International Trade in an Exporting
Country
Once trade is allowed, the domestic price
rises to equal the world price. The supply
curve shows the quantity of textiles
produced domestically, and the demand
curve shows the quantity consumed
domestically. Exports from Isoland equal
the difference between the domestic
quantity supplied and the domestic
quantity demanded at the world price.
Sellers are better off (producer surplus
rises from C to B C D), and buyers
are worse off (consumer surplus falls from
A B to A). Total surplus rises by an
amount equal to area D, indicating that
trade raises the economic well-being of
the country as a whole.
Consumer Surplus
Producer Surplus
Total Surplus
Before Trade
After Trade
Change
AB
C
ABC
A
BCD
ABCD
–B
(B D)
D
The area D shows the increase in total surplus
and represents the gains from trade.
Price of
Textiles
Price
after
trade
Domestic
supply
Exports
A
Price
before
trade
World
price
D
B
C
Exports
0
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-009.indd 174
Domestic
quantity
demanded
Domestic
quantity
supplied
Domestic
demand
Quantity of
Textiles
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CHAPTER 9
APPLICATION: INTERNATIONAL TRADE
175
After the domestic price has risen to equal the world price, the domestic
quantity supplied differs from the domestic quantity demanded. The supply
curve shows the quantity of textiles supplied by Isolandian sellers. The demand
curve shows the quantity of textiles demanded by Isolandian buyers. Because
the domestic quantity supplied is greater than the domestic quantity demanded,
Isoland sells textiles to other countries. Thus, Isoland becomes a textile exporter.
Although domestic quantity supplied and domestic quantity demanded differ,
the textile market is still in equilibrium because there is now another participant
in the market: the rest of the world. One can view the horizontal line at the world
price as representing the rest of the world’s demand for textiles. This demand
curve is perfectly elastic because Isoland, as a small economy, can sell as many
textiles as it wants at the world price.
Now consider the gains and losses from opening up trade. Clearly, not everyone benefits. Trade forces the domestic price to rise to the world price. Domestic
producers of textiles are better off because they can now sell textiles at a higher
price, but domestic consumers of textiles are worse off because they have to buy
textiles at a higher price.
To measure these gains and losses, we look at the changes in consumer and
producer surplus. Before trade is allowed, the price of textiles adjusts to balance
domestic supply and domestic demand. Consumer surplus, the area between
the demand curve and the before-trade price, is area A B. Producer surplus,
the area between the supply curve and the before-trade price, is area C. Total surplus before trade, the sum of consumer and producer surplus, is area A B C.
After trade is allowed, the domestic price rises to the world price. Consumer surplus is reduced to area A (the area between the demand curve and the world price).
Producer surplus is increased to area B C D (the area between the supply curve
and the world price). Thus, total surplus with trade is area A B C D.
These welfare calculations show who wins and who loses from trade in an
exporting country. Sellers benefit because producer surplus increases by the area
B D. Buyers are worse off because consumer surplus decreases by the area B.
Because the gains of sellers exceed the losses of buyers by the area D, total surplus
in Isoland increases.
This analysis of an exporting country yields two conclusions:
• When a country allows trade and becomes an exporter of a good, domestic
•
producers of the good are better off, and domestic consumers of the good
are worse off.
Trade raises the economic well-being of a nation in the sense that the gains
of the winners exceed the losses of the losers.
The Gains and Losses of an Importing Country
Now suppose that the domestic price before trade is above the world price. Once
again, after trade is allowed, the domestic price must equal the world price. As
Figure 3 shows, the domestic quantity supplied is less than the domestic quantity
demanded. The difference between the domestic quantity demanded and the
domestic quantity supplied is bought from other countries, and Isoland becomes
a textile importer.
In this case, the horizontal line at the world price represents the supply of the
rest of the world. This supply curve is perfectly elastic because Isoland is a small
economy and, therefore, can buy as many textiles as it wants at the world price.
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-009.indd 175
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PART III
Figure
MARKETS AND WELFARE
3
International Trade in an Importing
Country
Once trade is allowed, the domestic
price falls to equal the world price.
The supply curve shows the amount
produced domestically, and the demand
curve shows the amount consumed
domestically. Imports equal the
difference between the domestic quantity
demanded and the domestic quantity
supplied at the world price. Buyers are
better off (consumer surplus rises from A
to A B D), and sellers are worse off
(producer surplus falls from B C to C).
Total surplus rises by an amount equal to
area D, indicating that trade raises the
economic well-being of the country as a
whole.
Consumer Surplus
Producer Surplus
Total Surplus
Before Trade
After Trade
Change
A
BC
ABC
ABD
C
ABCD
(B D)
B
D
The area D shows the increase in total surplus
and represents the gains from trade.
Price of
Textiles
Domestic
supply
A
Price
before trade
Price
after trade
B
D
World
price
C
Imports
0
Domestic
quantity
supplied
Domestic
quantity
demanded
Domestic
demand
Quantity of
Textiles
Now consider the gains and losses from trade. Once again, not everyone benefits. When trade forces the domestic price to fall, domestic consumers are better off
(they can now buy textiles at a lower price), and domestic producers are worse off
(they now have to sell textiles at a lower price). Changes in consumer and producer
surplus measure the size of the gains and losses. Before trade, consumer surplus is
area A, producer surplus is area B C, and total surplus is area A B C. After
trade is allowed, consumer surplus is area A B D, producer surplus is area C,
and total surplus is area A B C D.
These welfare calculations show who wins and who loses from trade in an
importing country. Buyers benefit because consumer surplus increases by the area
B D. Sellers are worse off because producer surplus falls by the area B. The gains
of buyers exceed the losses of sellers, and total surplus increases by the area D.
This analysis of an importing country yields two conclusions parallel to those
for an exporting country:
• When a country allows trade and becomes an importer of a good, domestic
•
consumers of the good are better off, and domestic producers of the good
are worse off.
Trade raises the economic well-being of a nation in the sense that the gains
of the winners exceed the losses of the losers.
Having completed our analysis of trade, we can better understand one of the Ten
Principles of Economics in Chapter 1: Trade can make everyone better off. If Isoland
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-009.indd 176
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CHAPTER 9
APPLICATION: INTERNATIONAL TRADE
177
opens its textile market to international trade, the change will create winners and
losers, regardless of whether Isoland ends up exporting or importing textiles.
In either case, however, the gains of the winners would exceed the losses of the
losers, so the winners could compensate the losers and still be better off. In this
sense, trade can make everyone better off. But will trade make everyone better off?
Probably not. In practice, compensation for the losers from international trade is
rare. Without such compensation, opening an economy to international trade is
a policy that expands the size of the economic pie, while perhaps leaving some
participants in the economy with a smaller slice.
We can now see why the debate over trade policy is often contentious.
Whenever a policy creates winners and losers, the stage is set for a political battle.
Nations sometimes fail to enjoy the gains from trade because the losers from free
trade are better organized than the winners. The losers may turn their cohesiveness into political clout, lobbying for trade restrictions such as tariffs or import
quotas.
The Effects of a Tariff
The Isolandian economists next consider the effects of a tariff—a tax on imported
goods. The economists quickly realize that a tariff on textiles will have no effect
if Isoland becomes a textile exporter. If no one in Isoland is interested in importing textiles, a tax on textile imports is irrelevant. The tariff matters only if Isoland
becomes a textile importer. Concentrating their attention on this case, the economists compare welfare with and without the tariff.
Figure 4 shows the Isolandian market for textiles. Under free trade, the domestic price equals the world price. A tariff raises the price of imported textiles
above the world price by the amount of the tariff. Domestic suppliers of textiles,
who compete with suppliers of imported textiles, can now sell their textiles for
the world price plus the amount of the tariff. Thus, the price of textiles—both
imported and domestic—rises by the amount of the tariff and is, therefore, closer
to the price that would prevail without trade.
The change in price affects the behavior of domestic buyers and sellers. Because
the tariff raises the price of textiles, it reduces the domestic quantity demanded
D
D
S
S
from Q 1 to Q2 and raises the domestic quantity supplied from Q 1 to Q2 . Thus, the
tariff reduces the quantity of imports and moves the domestic market closer to its equilibrium without trade.
Now consider the gains and losses from the tariff. Because the tariff raises the
domestic price, domestic sellers are better off, and domestic buyers are worse off.
In addition, the government raises revenue. To measure these gains and losses,
we look at the changes in consumer surplus, producer surplus, and government
revenue. These changes are summarized in the table in Figure 4.
Before the tariff, the domestic price equals the world price. Consumer surplus, the
area between the demand curve and the world price, is area A B C D E F.
Producer surplus, the area between the supply curve and the world price, is area G.
Government revenue equals zero. Total surplus, the sum of consumer surplus,
producer surplus, and government revenue, is area A B C D E F G.
Once the government imposes a tariff, the domestic price exceeds the world
price by the amount of the tariff. Consumer surplus is now area A B. Producer
surplus is area C G. Government revenue, which is the quantity of after-tariff
imports times the size of the tariff, is the area E. Thus, total surplus with the tariff
is area A B C E G.
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-009.indd 177
tariff
a tax on goods produced
abroad and sold
domestically
09/12/10 8:21 PM
178
PART III
Figure
MARKETS AND WELFARE
4
A tariff reduces the quantity of imports and moves a market closer to the equilibrium
that would exist without trade. Total surplus falls by an amount equal to area D F.
These two triangles represent the deadweight loss from the tariff.
The Effects of a Tariff
Consumer Surplus
Producer Surplus
Government Revenue
Total Surplus
Before Tariff
After Tariff
Change
ABCDEF
G
None
ABCDEFG
AB
CG
E
ABCEG
–(C D E F)
C
E
–(D F)
The area D F shows the fall in total surplus and represents the deadweight loss of the tariff.
Price of
Textiles
Domestic
supply
A
Equilibrium
without trade
B
Price
with tariff
Price
without tariff
0
Tariff
C
D
E
G
F
Imports
with tariff
Q1S
Q2S
Domestic
demand
QD2
Imports
without tariff
QD1
World
price
Quantity of
Textiles
To determine the total welfare effects of the tariff, we add the change in consumer surplus (which is negative), the change in producer surplus (positive), and
the change in government revenue (positive). We find that total surplus in the
market decreases by the area D F. This fall in total surplus is called the deadweight loss of the tariff.
A tariff causes a deadweight loss because a tariff is a type of tax. Like most
taxes, it distorts incentives and pushes the allocation of scarce resources away
from the optimum. In this case, we can identify two effects. First, when the tariff
raises the domestic price of textiles above the world price, it encourages domestic
S
S
producers to increase production from Q 1 to Q2 . Even though the cost of making
these incremental units exceeds the cost of buying them at the world price, the
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179
FYI
Import Quotas:
Another Way to Restrict Trade
B
eyond tariffs, another way that nations sometimes restrict international trade is by putting limits on how much of a good can be
imported. In this book, we will not analyze such a policy, other than to
point out the conclusion: Import quotas are much like tariffs. Both tariffs
and import quotas reduce the quantity of imports, raise the domestic
price of the good, decrease the welfare of domestic consumers, increase
the welfare of domestic producers, and cause deadweight losses.
There is only one difference between these two types of trade
restriction: A tariff raises revenue for the government, whereas an
import quota creates surplus for those who obtain the licenses to
import. The profit for the holder of an import license is the difference
between the domestic price (at which he sells the imported good)
and the world price (at which he buys it).
Tariffs and import quotas are even more similar if the government charges a fee for the import licenses. Suppose the government
sets the license fee equal to the difference between the domestic
price and the world price. In this case, all the profit of license holders is paid to the government in license fees, and the import quota
works exactly like a tariff. Consumer surplus, producer surplus, and
government revenue are precisely the same under the two policies.
In practice, however, countries that restrict trade with import quotas
rarely do so by selling the import licenses. For example, the U.S. government has at times pressured Japan to “voluntarily” limit the sale of
Japanese cars in the United States. In this case, the Japanese government allocates the import licenses to Japanese firms, and the surplus
from these licenses accrues to those firms. From the standpoint of U.S.
welfare, this kind of import quota is worse than a U.S. tariff on imported
cars. Both a tariff and an import quota raise prices, restrict trade, and
cause deadweight losses, but at least the tariff produces revenue for the
U.S. government rather than profit for foreign producers.
tariff makes it profitable for domestic producers to manufacture them nonetheless. Second, when the tariff raises the price that domestic textile consumers have
D
D
to pay, it encourages them to reduce consumption of textiles from Q1 to Q2 . Even
though domestic consumers value these incremental units at more than the world
price, the tariff induces them to cut back their purchases. Area D represents the
deadweight loss from the overproduction of textiles, and area F represents the
deadweight loss from the underconsumption of textiles. The total deadweight loss
of the tariff is the sum of these two triangles.
The Lessons for Trade Policy
The team of Isolandian economists can now write to the new president:
Dear Madame President,
You asked us three questions about opening up trade. After much hard work,
we have the answers.
Question: If the government allows Isolandians to import and export textiles,
what will happen to the price of textiles and the quantity of textiles sold in the
domestic textile market?
Answer: Once trade is allowed, the Isolandian price of textiles will be driven to
equal the price prevailing around the world.
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If the world price is now higher than the Isolandian price, our price will rise.
The higher price will reduce the amount of textiles Isolandians consume and
raise the amount of textiles that Isolandians produce. Isoland will, therefore,
become a textile exporter. This occurs because, in this case, Isoland has a comparative advantage in producing textiles.
Conversely, if the world price is now lower than the Isolandian price, our
price will fall. The lower price will raise the amount of textiles that Isolandians
consume and lower the amount of textiles that Isolandians produce. Isoland
will, therefore, become a textile importer. This occurs because, in this case,
other countries have a comparative advantage in producing textiles.
Question: Who will gain from free trade in textiles and who will lose, and will
the gains exceed the losses?
Answer: The answer depends on whether the price rises or falls when trade is
allowed. If the price rises, producers of textiles gain, and consumers of textiles lose.
If the price falls, consumers gain, and producers lose. In both cases, the gains are
larger than the losses. Thus, free trade raises the total welfare of Isolandians.
Question: Should a tariff be part of the new trade policy?
Answer: A tariff has an impact only if Isoland becomes a textile importer. In
this case, a tariff moves the economy closer to the no-trade equilibrium and,
like most taxes, has deadweight losses. Although a tariff improves the welfare
of domestic producers and raises revenue for the government, these gains
are more than offset by the losses suffered by consumers. The best policy,
from the standpoint of economic efficiency, would be to allow trade without
a tariff.
We hope you find these answers helpful as you decide on your new policy.
Your faithful servants,
Isolandian economics team
Other Benefits of International Trade
The conclusions of the Isolandian economics team are based on the standard
analysis of international trade. Their analysis uses the most fundamental tools in
the economist’s toolbox: supply, demand, and producer and consumer surplus.
It shows that there are winners and losers when a nation opens itself up to trade,
but the gains to the winners exceed the losses of the losers.
The case for free trade can be made even stronger, however, because there are
several other economic benefits of trade beyond those emphasized in the standard
analysis. Here, in a nutshell, are some of these other benefits:
• Increased variety of goods. Goods produced in different countries are not
•
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-009.indd 180
exactly the same. German beer, for instance, is not the same as American
beer. Free trade gives consumers in all countries greater variety from which
to choose.
Lower costs through economies of scale. Some goods can be produced at
low cost only if they are produced in large quantities—a phenomenon called
economies of scale. A firm in a small country cannot take full advantage of
economies of scale if it can sell only in a small domestic market. Free trade
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181
in the news
Trade Skirmishes
In recent years, trade between the United States and China has not
been completely free, as the following two articles illustrate.
U.S. Adds Tariffs on
Chinese Tires
BY EDMUND L. ANDREWS
© DMITRY RUKHLENKO/SHUTTERSTOCK
W
ashington—In a break with the trade
policies of his predecessor, President
Obama announced on Friday night that he
would impose a 35 percent tariff on automobile and light-truck tires imported from China.
The decision is a major victory for
the United Steelworkers, the union that
represents American tire workers. And
Mr. Obama cannot afford to jeopardize his
relationship with major unions as he pushes
Congress to overhaul the nation’s health
care system.
A U.S. import
But China is certain to be antagonized
by the decision….
The decision signals the first time that
the United States has invoked a special
safeguard provision that was part of its
agreement to support China’s entry into the
World Trade Organization in 2001.
Under that safeguard provision, American
companies or workers harmed by imports from
China can ask the government for protection
simply by demonstrating that American producers have suffered a “market disruption” or
a “surge” in imports from China.
Unlike more traditional anti-dumping
cases, the government does not need to determine that a country is competing unfairly or
selling its products at less than their true cost.
[Three days later]
China Moves to
Retaliate Against U.S.
Tire Tariff
BY KEITH BRADSHER
© IVONNE WIERINK/SHUTTERSTOCK
H
ong Kong—China unexpectedly increased
pressure Sunday on the United States in a
widening trade dispute, taking the first steps
toward imposing tariffs on American exports
of automotive products and chicken meat in
retaliation for President Obama’s decision late
Friday to levy tariffs on tires from China.
The Chinese government’s strong countermove followed a weekend of nationalistic
vitriol against the United States on Chinese
Web sites in response to the tire tariff. “The
U.S. is shameless!” said one posting, while
another called on the Chinese government to
sell all of its huge holdings of Treasury bonds.
The impact of the dispute extends
well beyond tires, chickens and cars.
Both governments are facing domestic
pressure to take a tougher stand against
the other on economic issues. But the
trade battle increases political tensions
between the two nations even as they
try to work together to revive the global
economy and combat mutual security
threats, like the nuclear ambitions of Iran
and North Korea.
A U.S. export
Source: New York Times, September 11 and 14, 2009.
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•
•
gives firms access to larger world markets and allows them to realize
economies of scale more fully.
Increased competition. A company shielded from foreign competitors is more
likely to have market power, which in turn gives it the ability to raise prices
above competitive levels. This is a type of market failure. Opening up trade fosters competition and gives the invisible hand a better chance to work its magic.
Enhanced flow of ideas. The transfer of technological advances around the
world is often thought to be linked to the trading of the goods that embody
those advances. The best way for a poor agricultural nation to learn about
the computer revolution, for instance, is to buy some computers from
abroad rather than trying to make them domestically.
Thus, free international trade increases variety for consumers, allows firms
to take advantage of economies of scale, makes markets more competitive,
and facilitates the spread of technology. If the Isolandian economists also took
these effects into account, their advice to their president would be even more
forceful.
QUICK QUIZ Draw a supply and demand diagram for wool suits in the country of
Autarka. When trade is allowed, the price of a suit falls from 3 to 2 ounces of gold.
In your diagram, show the change in consumer surplus, the change in producer surplus, and the change in total surplus. How would a tariff on suit imports alter these
effects?
The Arguments for Restricting Trade
The letter from the economics team starts to persuade the new president of Isoland
to consider allowing trade in textiles. She notes that the domestic price is now high
compared to the world price. Free trade would, therefore, cause the price of textiles
to fall and hurt domestic textiles producers. Before implementing the new policy,
she asks Isolandian textile companies to comment on the economists’ advice.
Not surprisingly, the textile companies oppose free trade in textiles. They
believe that the government should protect the domestic textile industry from
foreign competition. Let’s consider some of the arguments they might give to support their position and how the economics team would respond.
“You like protectionism as a ‘working
man.’ How about
as a consumer?”
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Opponents of free trade often argue that trade with other countries destroys domestic
jobs. In our example, free trade in textiles would cause the price of textiles to fall, reducing the quantity of textiles produced in Isoland and thus reducing employment in the
Isolandian textile industry. Some Isolandian textile workers would lose their jobs.
Yet free trade creates jobs at the same time that it destroys them. When
Isolandians buy textiles from other countries, those countries obtain the resources
to buy other goods from Isoland. Isolandian workers would move from the textile
industry to those industries in which Isoland has a comparative advantage. The
transition may impose hardship on some workers in the short run, but it allows
Isolandians as a whole to enjoy a higher standard of living.
Opponents of trade are often skeptical that trade creates jobs. They might
respond that everything can be produced more cheaply abroad. Under free trade,
they might argue, Isolandians could not be profitably employed in any industry.
© BERRY’S WORLD REPRINTED BY PERMISSION
OF UNITED FEATURE SYNDICATE, INC.
The Jobs Argument
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As Chapter 3 explains, however, the gains from trade are based on comparative
advantage, not absolute advantage. Even if one country is better than another
country at producing everything, each country can still gain from trading with the
other. Workers in each country will eventually find jobs in an industry in which
that country has a comparative advantage.
in the news
Should the Winners from Free Trade
Compensate the Losers?
Politicians and pundits often say that the government should help workers made worse off by international trade by, for example, paying for their
retraining. In this opinion piece, an economist makes the opposite case.
What to Expect When
You’re Free Trading
BY STEVEN E. LANDSBURG
A
ll economists know that when American
jobs are outsourced, Americans as a
group are net winners. What we lose through
lower wages is more than offset by what we
gain through lower prices. In other words, the
winners can more than afford to compensate
the losers. Does that mean they ought to?
Does it create a moral mandate for taxpayersubsidized retraining programs?…
Um, no. Even if you’ve just lost your job,
there’s something fundamentally churlish
about blaming the very phenomenon that’s
elevated you above the subsistence level
since the day you were born. If the world
owes you compensation for enduring the
downside of trade, what do you owe the
world for enjoying the upside?
I doubt there’s a human being on earth
who hasn’t benefited from the opportunity
to trade freely with his neighbors. Imagine
what your life would be like if you had to
grow your own food, make your own clothes
and rely on your grandmother’s home reme-
dies for health care. Access to a trained
physician might reduce the demand for
grandma’s home remedies, but—especially
at her age—she’s still got plenty of reason
to be thankful for having a doctor.
Some people suggest, however, that it
makes sense to isolate the moral effects of a
single new trading opportunity or free trade
agreement. Surely we have fellow citizens
who are hurt by those agreements, at least
in the limited sense that they’d be better off
in a world where trade flourishes, except in
this one instance. What do we owe those
fellow citizens?
One way to think about that is to ask what
your moral instincts tell you in analogous situations. Suppose, after years of buying shampoo
at your local pharmacy, you discover you
can order the same shampoo for less money
on the Web. Do you have an obligation to
compensate your pharmacist? If you move to
a cheaper apartment, should you compensate
your landlord? When you eat at McDonald’s,
should you compensate the owners of the
diner next door? Public policy should not be
designed to advance moral instincts that we
all reject every day of our lives.
In what morally relevant way, then,
might displaced workers differ from dis-
placed pharmacists or displaced landlords? You might argue that pharmacists
and landlords have always faced cutthroat
competition and therefore knew what
they were getting into, while decades of
tariffs and quotas have led manufacturing
workers to expect a modicum of protection. That expectation led them to develop
certain skills, and now it’s unfair to pull
the rug out from under them.
Once again, that argument does not
mesh with our everyday instincts. For many
decades, schoolyard bullying has been a
profitable occupation. All across America,
bullies have built up skills so they can take
advantage of that opportunity. If we toughen
the rules to make bullying unprofitable,
must we compensate the bullies?
Bullying and protectionism have a lot
in common. They both use force (either
directly or through the power of the law)
to enrich someone else at your involuntary expense. If you’re forced to pay $20
an hour to an American for goods you
could have bought from a Mexican for $5
an hour, you’re being extorted. When a
free trade agreement allows you to buy
from the Mexican after all, rejoice in your
liberation.
Source: New York Times, January 16, 2008.
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The National-Security Argument
When an industry is threatened with competition from other countries, opponents of free trade often argue that the industry is vital for national security. For
example, if Isoland were considering free trade in steel, domestic steel companies
might point out that steel is used to make guns and tanks. Free trade would allow
Isoland to become dependent on foreign countries to supply steel. If a war later
broke out and the foreign supply was interrupted, Isoland might be unable to
produce enough steel and weapons to defend itself.
Economists acknowledge that protecting key industries may be appropriate when
there are legitimate concerns over national security. Yet they fear that this argument
may be used too quickly by producers eager to gain at consumers’ expense.
One should be wary of the national-security argument when it is made by representatives of industry rather than the defense establishment. Companies have
an incentive to exaggerate their role in national defense to obtain protection from
foreign competition. A nation’s generals may see things very differently. Indeed,
when the military is a consumer of an industry’s output, it would benefit from
in the news
Second Thoughts about Free Trade
Some economists worry about the impact of trade on the distribution of
income. Even if free trade enhances efficiency, it may reduce equality.
Trouble with Trade
BY PAUL KRUGMAN
W
hile the United States has long imported oil and other raw materials from
the third world, we used to import manufactured goods mainly from other rich countries
like Canada, European nations and Japan.
But recently we crossed an important
watershed: we now import more manufactured goods from the third world than
from other advanced economies. That is, a
majority of our industrial trade is now with
countries that are much poorer than we
are and that pay their workers much lower
wages.
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-009.indd 184
For the world economy as a whole—
and especially for poorer nations—growing
trade between high-wage and low-wage
countries is a very good thing. Above all, it
offers backward economies their best hope
of moving up the income ladder.
But for American workers the story is
much less positive. In fact, it’s hard to avoid
the conclusion that growing U.S. trade with
third-world countries reduces the real wages
of many and perhaps most workers in this
country. And that reality makes the politics
of trade very difficult.
Let’s talk for a moment about the
economics.
Trade between high-wage countries
tends to be a modest win for all, or almost
all, concerned. When a free-trade pact
made it possible to integrate the U.S. and
Canadian auto industries in the 1960s, each
country’s industry concentrated on producing a narrower range of products at larger
scale. The result was an all-round, broadly
shared rise in productivity and wages.
By contrast, trade between countries at
very different levels of economic development tends to create large classes of losers
as well as winners.
Although the outsourcing of some hightech jobs to India has made headlines, on
balance, highly educated workers in the
United States benefit from higher wages
and expanded job opportunities because
of trade. For example, ThinkPad notebook
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185
imports. Cheaper steel in Isoland, for example, would allow the Isolandian military to accumulate a stockpile of weapons at lower cost.
The Infant-Industry Argument
New industries sometimes argue for temporary trade restrictions to help them
get started. After a period of protection, the argument goes, these industries will
mature and be able to compete with foreign firms.
Similarly, older industries sometimes argue that they need temporary protection
to help them adjust to new conditions. For example, in 2002, President Bush imposed
temporary tariffs on imported steel. He said, “I decided that imports were severely
affecting our industry, an important industry.” The tariff, which lasted 20 months,
offered “temporary relief so that the industry could restructure itself.”
Economists are often skeptical about such claims, largely because the infantindustry argument is difficult to implement in practice. To apply protection successfully, the government would need to decide which industries will eventually
be profitable and decide whether the benefits of establishing these industries
exceed the costs of this protection to consumers. Yet “picking winners” is extraordinarily difficult. It is made even more difficult by the political process, which
often awards protection to those industries that are politically powerful. And
computers are now made by a Chinese
company, Lenovo, but a lot of Lenovo’s
research and development is conducted in
North Carolina.
But workers with less formal education
either see their jobs shipped overseas or find
their wages driven down by the ripple effect
as other workers with similar qualifications
crowd into their industries and look for
employment to replace the jobs they lost
to foreign competition. And lower prices at
Wal-Mart aren’t sufficient compensation.
All this is textbook international economics: contrary to what people sometimes
assert, economic theory says that free trade
normally makes a country richer, but it
doesn’t say that it’s normally good for everyone. Still, when the effects of third-world
exports on U.S. wages first became an issue
in the 1990s, a number of economists—
myself included—looked at the data and
concluded that any negative effects on U.S.
wages were modest.
The trouble now is that these effects
may no longer be as modest as they were,
because imports of manufactured goods from
the third world have grown dramatically—
from just 2.5 percent of G.D.P. in 1990 to
6 percent in 2006.
And the biggest growth in imports has
come from countries with very low wages.
The original “newly industrializing economies” exporting manufactured goods—
South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and
Singapore—paid wages that were about 25
percent of U.S. levels in 1990. Since then,
however, the sources of our imports have
shifted to Mexico, where wages are only 11
percent of the U.S. level, and China, where
they’re only about 3 percent or 4 percent.
There are some qualifying aspects to this
story. For example, many of those made-inChina goods contain components made in
Japan and other high-wage economies. Still,
there’s little doubt that the pressure of globalization on American wages has increased.
So am I arguing for protectionism? No.
Those who think that globalization is always
and everywhere a bad thing are wrong. On
the contrary, keeping world markets relatively open is crucial to the hopes of billions
of people.
But I am arguing for an end to the
finger-wagging, the accusation either of not
understanding economics or of kowtowing
to special interests that tends to be the
editorial response to politicians who express
skepticism about the benefits of free-trade
agreements.
It’s often claimed that limits on trade
benefit only a small number of Americans,
while hurting the vast majority. That’s still
true of things like the import quota on sugar.
But when it comes to manufactured goods,
it’s at least arguable that the reverse is true.
The highly educated workers who clearly
benefit from growing trade with third-world
economies are a minority, greatly outnumbered by those who probably lose.
As I said, I’m not a protectionist. For the
sake of the world as a whole, I hope that
we respond to the trouble with trade not
by shutting trade down, but by doing things
like strengthening the social safety net. But
those who are worried about trade have a
point, and deserve some respect.
Source: New York Times, December 28, 2007.
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once a powerful industry is protected from foreign competition, the “temporary”
policy is sometimes hard to remove.
In addition, many economists are skeptical about the infant-industry argument
in principle. Suppose, for instance, that an industry is young and unable to compete
profitably against foreign rivals, but there is reason to believe that the industry can
be profitable in the long run. In this case, firm owners should be willing to incur temporary losses to obtain the eventual profits. Protection is not necessary for an infant
industry to grow. History shows that start-up firms often incur temporary losses and
succeed in the long run, even without protection from competition.
The Unfair-Competition Argument
A common argument is that free trade is desirable only if all countries play by
the same rules. If firms in different countries are subject to different laws and
regulations, then it is unfair (the argument goes) to expect the firms to compete
in the international marketplace. For instance, suppose that the government of
Neighborland subsidizes its textile industry by giving textile companies large tax
breaks. The Isolandian textile industry might argue that it should be protected
from this foreign competition because Neighborland is not competing fairly.
Would it, in fact, hurt Isoland to buy textiles from another country at a subsidized price? Certainly, Isolandian textile producers would suffer, but Isolandian
textile consumers would benefit from the low price. The case for free trade is no
different: The gains of the consumers from buying at the low price would exceed
the losses of the producers. Neighborland’s subsidy to its textile industry may be
a bad policy, but it is the taxpayers of Neighborland who bear the burden. Isoland
can benefit from the opportunity to buy textiles at a subsidized price.
The Protection-as-a-Bargaining-Chip Argument
Another argument for trade restrictions concerns the strategy of bargaining.
Many policymakers claim to support free trade but, at the same time, argue that
trade restrictions can be useful when we bargain with our trading partners. They
claim that the threat of a trade restriction can help remove a trade restriction
already imposed by a foreign government. For example, Isoland might threaten
to impose a tariff on textiles unless Neighborland removes its tariff on wheat. If
Neighborland responds to this threat by removing its tariff, the result can be freer
trade.
The problem with this bargaining strategy is that the threat may not work. If
it doesn’t work, the country faces a choice between two bad options. It can carry
out its threat and implement the trade restriction, which would reduce its own
economic welfare. Or it can back down from its threat, which would cause it to
lose prestige in international affairs. Faced with this choice, the country would
probably wish that it had never made the threat in the first place.
Trade Agreements and the World Trade
Organization
A country can take one of two approaches to achieving free trade. It can take a unilateral approach and remove its trade restrictions on its own. This is the approach
that Great Britain took in the 19th century and that Chile and South Korea have
taken in recent years. Alternatively, a country can take a multilateral approach and
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187
reduce its trade restrictions while other countries do the same. In other words, it
can bargain with its trading partners in an attempt to reduce trade restrictions
around the world.
One important example of the multilateral approach is the North American
Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which in 1993 lowered trade barriers among the
United States, Mexico, and Canada. Another is the General Agreement on Tariffs
and Trade (GATT), which is a continuing series of negotiations among many of
the world’s countries with the goal of promoting free trade. The United States
helped to found GATT after World War II in response to the high tariffs imposed
during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Many economists believe that the high
tariffs contributed to the worldwide economic hardship of that period. GATT
has successfully reduced the average tariff among member countries from about
40 percent after World War II to about 5 percent today.
The rules established under GATT are now enforced by an international institution called the World Trade Organization (WTO). The WTO was established in
1995 and has its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. As of 2009, 153 countries
have joined the organization, accounting for more than 97 percent of world trade.
The functions of the WTO are to administer trade agreements, provide a forum
for negotiations, and handle disputes among member countries.
What are the pros and cons of the multilateral approach to free trade? One
advantage is that the multilateral approach has the potential to result in freer
trade than a unilateral approach because it can reduce trade restrictions abroad
as well as at home. If international negotiations fail, however, the result could be
more restricted trade than under a unilateral approach.
In addition, the multilateral approach may have a political advantage. In most
markets, producers are fewer and better organized than consumers—and thus
wield greater political influence. Reducing the Isolandian tariff on textiles, for
example, may be politically difficult if considered by itself. The textile companies would oppose free trade, and the buyers of textiles who would benefit are
so numerous that organizing their support would be difficult. Yet suppose that
Neighborland promises to reduce its tariff on wheat at the same time that Isoland
reduces its tariff on textiles. In this case, the Isolandian wheat farmers, who
are also politically powerful, would back the agreement. Thus, the multilateral
approach to free trade can sometimes win political support when a unilateral
approach cannot. Q
QUICK QUIZ The textile industry of Autarka advocates a ban on the import of wool
suits. Describe five arguments its lobbyists might make. Give a response to each of
these arguments.
Conclusion
Economists and the public often disagree about free trade. In 2008, the Los Angeles
Times asked the American public, “Generally speaking, do you believe that free
international trade has helped or hurt the economy, or hasn’t it made a difference to the economy one way or the other?” Only 26 percent of those polled said
free international trade helped, whereas 50 percent thought it hurt. (The rest
thought it made no difference or were unsure.) By contrast, most economists
support free international trade. They view free trade as a way of allocating
production efficiently and raising living standards both at home and abroad.
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Economists view the United States as an ongoing experiment that confirms the
virtues of free trade. Throughout its history, the United States has allowed unrestricted trade among the states, and the country as a whole has benefited from
the specialization that trade allows. Florida grows oranges, Alaska pumps oil,
California makes wine, and so on. Americans would not enjoy the high standard
of living they do today if people could consume only those goods and services
produced in their own states. The world could similarly benefit from free trade
among countries.
To better understand economists’ view of trade, let’s continue our parable.
Suppose that the president of Isoland, after reading the latest poll results, ignores
the advice of her economics team and decides not to allow free trade in textiles.
The country remains in the equilibrium without international trade.
Then, one day, some Isolandian inventor discovers a new way to make textiles
at very low cost. The process is quite mysterious, however, and the inventor
insists on keeping it a secret. What is odd is that the inventor doesn’t need traditional inputs such as cotton or wool. The only material input he needs is wheat.
And even more oddly, to manufacture textiles from wheat, he hardly needs any
labor input at all.
The inventor is hailed as a genius. Because everyone buys clothing, the lower
cost of textiles allows all Isolandians to enjoy a higher standard of living. Workers
who had previously produced textiles experience some hardship when their
factories close, but eventually, they find work in other industries. Some become
farmers and grow the wheat that the inventor turns into textiles. Others enter new
industries that emerge as a result of higher Isolandian living standards. Everyone
understands that the displacement of workers in outmoded industries is an inevitable part of technological progress and economic growth.
After several years, a newspaper reporter decides to investigate this mysterious new textiles process. She sneaks into the inventor’s factory and learns that the
inventor is a fraud. The inventor has not been making textiles at all. Instead, he
has been smuggling wheat abroad in exchange for textiles from other countries.
The only thing that the inventor had discovered was the gains from international
trade.
When the truth is revealed, the government shuts down the inventor’s operation. The price of textiles rises, and workers return to jobs in textile factories.
Living standards in Isoland fall back to their former levels. The inventor is jailed
and held up to public ridicule. After all, he was no inventor. He was just an
economist.
SUMMAR Y
SUMMARY
SU
• The effects of free trade can be determined by
• When a country allows trade and becomes an
comparing the domestic price without trade to
the world price. A low domestic price indicates
that the country has a comparative advantage
in producing the good and that the country will
become an exporter. A high domestic price indicates that the rest of the world has a comparative
advantage in producing the good and that the
country will become an importer.
exporter of a good, producers of the good are
better off, and consumers of the good are worse
off. When a country allows trade and becomes an
importer of a good, consumers are better off, and
producers are worse off. In both cases, the gains
from trade exceed the losses.
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• A tariff—a tax on imports—moves a market
closer to the equilibrium that would exist without
trade and, therefore, reduces the gains from
trade. Although domestic producers are better
off and the government raises revenue, the losses
to consumers exceed these gains.
APPLICATION: INTERNATIONAL TRADE
189
helping infant industries, preventing unfair
competition, and responding to foreign trade
restrictions. Although some of these arguments
have some merit in some cases, economists
believe that free trade is usually the better policy.
• There are various arguments for restricting trade:
protecting jobs, defending national security,
KEY CONCEPTS
CO
CONC
C EPTS
S
world price, p. 173
tariff, p. 177
QUESTIONS FOR
FO R REVIEW
R EVIEW
1. What does the domestic price that prevails
without international trade tell us about a
nation’s comparative advantage?
2. When does a country become an exporter of a
good? An importer?
3. Draw the supply-and-demand diagram for an
importing country. What is consumer surplus
and producer surplus before trade is allowed?
What is consumer surplus and producer
surplus with free trade? What is the change in
total surplus?
4. Describe what a tariff is and its economic effects.
5. List five arguments often given to support trade
restrictions. How do economists respond to
these arguments?
6. What is the difference between the unilateral
and multilateral approaches to achieving free
trade? Give an example of each.
PROBLEMS
PRO
O B LEMS
S AND APPLICATIO
APPLICATIONS
C
O NS
S
1. Mexico represents a small part of the world
orange market.
a. Draw a diagram depicting the equilibrium
in the Mexican orange market without
international trade. Identify the equilibrium
price, equilibrium quantity, consumer
surplus, and producer surplus.
b. Suppose that the world orange price is below
the Mexican price before trade and that the
Mexican orange market is now opened to
trade. Identify the new equilibrium price,
quantity consumed, quantity produced
domestically, and quantity imported. Also
show the change in the surplus of domestic
consumers and producers. Has total surplus
increased or decreased?
2. The world price of wine is below the price that
would prevail in Canada in the absence of trade.
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-009.indd 189
a. Assuming that Canadian imports of wine are
a small part of total world wine production,
draw a graph for the Canadian market for
wine under free trade. Identify consumer
surplus, producer surplus, and total surplus
in an appropriate table.
b. Now suppose that an unusual shift of the
Gulf Stream leads to an unseasonably cold
summer in Europe, destroying much of the
grape harvest there. What effect does this
shock have on the world price of wine? Using
your graph and table from part (a), show
the effect on consumer surplus, producer
surplus, and total surplus in Canada. Who
are the winners and losers? Is Canada as a
whole better or worse off?
3. Suppose that Congress imposes a tariff on
imported autos to protect the U.S. auto industry
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from foreign competition. Assuming that the
United States is a price taker in the world auto
market, show the following on a diagram: the
change in the quantity of imports, the loss to
U.S. consumers, the gain to U.S. manufacturers,
government revenue, and the deadweight
loss associated with the tariff. The loss to
consumers can be decomposed into three pieces:
a gain to domestic producers, revenue for the
government, and a deadweight loss. Use your
diagram to identify these three pieces.
4. When China’s clothing industry expands, the
increase in world supply lowers the world price
of clothing.
a. Draw an appropriate diagram to analyze
how this change in price affects consumer
surplus, producer surplus, and total surplus
in a nation that imports clothing, such as the
United States.
b. Now draw an appropriate diagram to show
how this change in price affects consumer
surplus, producer surplus, and total surplus
in a nation that exports clothing, such as the
Dominican Republic.
c. Compare your answers to parts (a) and
(b). What are the similarities and what are
the differences? Which country should
be concerned about the expansion of the
Chinese textile industry? Which country
should be applauding it? Explain.
5. Imagine that winemakers in the state of
Washington petitioned the state government to
tax wines imported from California. They argue
that this tax would both raise tax revenue for
the state government and raise employment in
the Washington state wine industry. Do you
agree with these claims? Is it a good policy?
6. Consider the arguments for restricting trade.
a. Assume you are a lobbyist for timber, an
established industry suffering from lowpriced foreign competition. Which two or
three of the five arguments do you think
would be most persuasive to the average
member of Congress as to why he or she
should support trade restrictions? Explain
your reasoning.
b. Now assume you are an astute student
of economics (hopefully not a hard
assumption). Although all the arguments for
restricting trade have their shortcomings,
name the two or three arguments that seem
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-009.indd 190
7.
8.
9.
10.
to make the most economic sense to you.
For each, describe the economic rationale
for and against these arguments for trade
restrictions.
Senator Ernest Hollings once wrote that
“consumers do not benefit from lower-priced
imports. Glance through some mail-order
catalogs and you’ll see that consumers pay
exactly the same price for clothing whether it is
U.S.-made or imported.” Comment.
The nation of Textilia does not allow imports
of clothing. In its equilibrium without trade, a
T-shirt costs $20, and the equilibrium quantity is
3 million T-shirts. One day, after reading Adam
Smith’s The Wealth of Nations while on vacation,
the president decides to open the Textilian
market to international trade. The market
price of a T-shirt falls to the world price of $16.
The number of T-shirts consumed in Textilia
rises to 4 million, while the number of T-shirts
produced declines to 1 million.
a. Illustrate the situation just described in
a graph. Your graph should show all the
numbers.
b. Calculate the change in consumer surplus,
producer surplus, and total surplus that
results from opening up trade. (Hint: Recall
that the area of a triangle is ½ × base ×
height.)
China is a major producer of grains, such as
wheat, corn, and rice. In 2008 the Chinese
government, concerned that grain exports were
driving up food prices for domestic consumers,
imposed a tax on grain exports.
a. Draw the graph that describes the market for
grain in an exporting country. Use this graph
as the starting point to answer the following
questions.
b. How does an export tax affect domestic grain
prices?
c. How does it affect the welfare of domestic
consumers, the welfare of domestic
producers, and government revenue?
d. What happens to total welfare in China, as
measured by the sum of consumer surplus,
producer surplus, and tax revenue?
Consider a country that imports a good from
abroad. For each of following statements, say
whether it is true or false. Explain your answer.
a. “The greater the elasticity of demand, the
greater the gains from trade.”
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CHAPTER 9
b. “If demand is perfectly inelastic, there are no
gains from trade.”
c. “If demand is perfectly inelastic, consumers
do not benefit from trade.”
11. Kawmin is a small country that produces and
consumes jelly beans. The world price of jelly
beans is $1 per bag, and Kawmin’s domestic
demand and supply for jelly beans are governed
by the following equations:
Demand: QD 8 – P
Supply: QS P,
where P is in dollars per bag and Q is in bags of
jelly beans.
a. Draw a well-labeled graph of the situation in
Kawmin if the nation does not allow trade.
Calculate the following (recalling that the
area of a triangle is ½ base height): the
equilibrium price and quantity, consumer
surplus, producer surplus, and total surplus.
b. Kawmin then opens the market to trade.
Draw another graph to describe the
new situation in the jelly bean market.
Calculate the equilibrium price, quantities
of consumption and production, imports,
consumer surplus, producer surplus, and
total surplus.
c. After a while, the Czar of Kawmin responds
to the pleas of jelly bean producers by
placing a $1 per bag tariff on jelly bean
imports. On a graph, show the effects of
this tariff. Calculate the equilibrium price,
quantities of consumption and production,
imports, consumer surplus, producer surplus,
government revenue, and total surplus.
d. What are the gains from opening up
trade? What are the deadweight losses
from restricting trade with the tariff? Give
numerical answers.
12. Having rejected a tariff on textiles (a tax on
imports), the president of Isoland is now
considering the same-sized tax on textile
consumption (including both imported and
domestically produced textiles).
a. Using Figure 4, identify the quantity
consumed and the quantity produced in
Isoland under a textile consumption tax.
b. Construct a table similar to that in Figure 4
for the textile consumption tax.
c. Which raises more revenue for the
government—the consumption tax or the
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APPLICATION: INTERNATIONAL TRADE
191
tariff? Which has a smaller deadweight loss?
Explain.
13. Assume the United States is an importer of
televisions and there are no trade restrictions.
U.S. consumers buy 1 million televisions
per year, of which 400,000 are produced
domestically and 600,000 are imported.
a. Suppose that a technological advance among
Japanese television manufacturers causes
the world price of televisions to fall by $100.
Draw a graph to show how this change
affects the welfare of U.S. consumers and U.S.
producers and how it affects total surplus in
the United States.
b. After the fall in price, consumers buy 1.2
million televisions, of which 200,000 are
produced domestically and 1 million are
imported. Calculate the change in consumer
surplus, producer surplus, and total surplus
from the price reduction.
c. If the government responded by putting a
$100 tariff on imported televisions, what
would this do? Calculate the revenue
that would be raised and the deadweight
loss. Would it be a good policy from the
standpoint of U.S. welfare? Who might
support the policy?
d. Suppose that the fall in price is attributable
not to technological advance but to a $100
per television subsidy from the Japanese
government to Japanese industry. How
would this affect your analysis?
14. Consider a small country that exports steel.
Suppose that a “pro-trade” government
decides to subsidize the export of steel by
paying a certain amount for each ton sold
abroad. How does this export subsidy affect
the domestic price of steel, the quantity
of steel produced, the quantity of steel
consumed, and the quantity of steel exported?
How does it affect consumer surplus,
producer surplus, government revenue, and
total surplus? Is it a good policy from the
standpoint of economic efficiency? (Hint: The
analysis of an export subsidy is similar to the
analysis of a tariff.)
For further information on topics in this chapter,
additional problems, applications, examples, online
quizzes, and more, please visit our website at
www.cengage.com/economics/mankiw.
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IV
PART
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The Data of
Macroeconomics
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Nation’s Income
10
W
hen you finish school and start looking for a full-time job, your
experience will, to a large extent, be shaped by prevailing economic conditions. In some years, firms throughout the economy
are expanding their production of goods and services, employment
is rising, and jobs are easy to find. In other years, firms are cutting back production, employment is declining, and finding a good job takes a long time. Not
surprisingly, any college graduate would rather enter the labor force in a year of
economic expansion than in a year of economic contraction.
Because the health of the overall economy profoundly affects all of us, changes
in economic conditions are widely reported by the media. Indeed, it is hard to
pick up a newspaper, check an online news service, or turn on the TV without
seeing some newly reported statistic about the economy. The statistic might
measure the total income of everyone in the economy (gross domestic product, or
GDP), the rate at which average prices are rising or falling (inflation/deflation), the
195
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microeconomics
the study of how
households and firms
make decisions and how
they interact in markets
macroeconomics
the study of economywide phenomena,
including inflation,
unemployment, and
economic growth
percentage of the labor force that is out of work (unemployment), total spending
at stores (retail sales), or the imbalance of trade between the United States and the
rest of the world (the trade deficit). All these statistics are macroeconomic. Rather
than telling us about a particular household, firm, or market, they tell us something about the entire economy.
As you may recall from Chapter 2, economics is divided into two branches:
microeconomics and macroeconomics. Microeconomics is the study of how
individual households and firms make decisions and how they interact with one
another in markets. Macroeconomics is the study of the economy as a whole.
The goal of macroeconomics is to explain the economic changes that affect many
households, firms, and markets simultaneously. Macroeconomists address
diverse questions: Why is average income high in some countries while it is low
in others? Why do prices sometimes rise rapidly while at other times they are
more stable? Why do production and employment expand in some years and
contract in others? What, if anything, can the government do to promote rapid
growth in incomes, low inflation, and stable employment? These questions are
all macroeconomic in nature because they concern the workings of the entire
economy.
Because the economy as a whole is a collection of many households and many
firms interacting in many markets, microeconomics and macroeconomics are
closely linked. The basic tools of supply and demand, for instance, are as central
to macroeconomic analysis as they are to microeconomic analysis. Yet studying
the economy in its entirety raises some new and intriguing challenges.
In this and the next chapter, we discuss some of the data that economists and
policymakers use to monitor the performance of the overall economy. These data
reflect the economic changes that macroeconomists try to explain. This chapter
considers gross domestic product, which measures the total income of a nation. GDP
is the most closely watched economic statistic because it is thought to be the best
single measure of a society’s economic well-being.
The Economy’s Income and Expenditure
If you were to judge how a person is doing economically, you might first look at
his or her income. A person with a high income can more easily afford life’s necessities and luxuries. It is no surprise that people with higher incomes enjoy higher
standards of living—better housing, better healthcare, fancier cars, more opulent
vacations, and so on.
The same logic applies to a nation’s overall economy. When judging whether
the economy is doing well or poorly, it is natural to look at the total income that
everyone in the economy is earning. That is the task of gross domestic product.
GDP measures two things at once: the total income of everyone in the economy
and the total expenditure on the economy’s output of goods and services. GDP
can perform the trick of measuring both total income and total expenditure
because these two things are really the same. For an economy as a whole, income
must equal expenditure.
Why is this true? An economy’s income is the same as its expenditure because
every transaction has two parties: a buyer and a seller. Every dollar of spending by
some buyer is a dollar of income for some seller. Suppose, for instance, that Karen
pays Doug $100 to mow her lawn. In this case, Doug is a seller of a service, and
Karen is a buyer. Doug earns $100, and Karen spends $100. Thus, the transaction
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Figure
Revenue
(= GDP)
Goods
and services
sold
MARKETS FOR
GOODS AND
SERVICES
FIRMS
Factors of
production
Wages, rent,
and profit
(= GDP)
Spending
(= GDP)
Goods and
services
bought
HOUSEHOLDS
MARKETS FOR
FACTORS OF
PRODUCTION
197
1
The Circular-Flow Diagram
Households buy goods and
services from firms, and
firms use their revenue
from sales to pay wages
to workers, rent to
landowners, and profit to
firm owners. GDP equals
the total amount spent by
households in the market
for goods and services. It
also equals the total wages,
rent, and profit paid by
firms in the markets for the
factors of production.
Labor, land,
and capital
Income (= GDP)
Flow of inputs
and outputs
Flow of dollars
contributes equally to the economy’s income and to its expenditure. GDP, whether
measured as total income or total expenditure, rises by $100.
Another way to see the equality of income and expenditure is with the
circular-flow diagram in Figure 1. As you may recall from Chapter 2, this diagram describes all the transactions between households and firms in a simple
economy. It simplifies matters by assuming that all goods and services are
bought by households and that households spend all of their income. In this
economy, when households buy goods and services from firms, these expenditures flow through the markets for goods and services. When the firms in turn
use the money they receive from sales to pay workers’ wages, landowners’ rent,
and firm owners’ profit, this income flows through the markets for the factors of
production. Money continuously flows from households to firms and then back
to households.
GDP measures this flow of money. We can compute it for this economy in one
of two ways: by adding up the total expenditure by households or by adding up
the total income (wages, rent, and profit) paid by firms. Because all expenditure
in the economy ends up as someone’s income, GDP is the same regardless of how
we compute it.
The actual economy is, of course, more complicated than the one illustrated in
Figure 1. Households do not spend all of their income; they pay some of it to the
government in taxes, and they save some for use in the future. In addition, households do not buy all goods and services produced in the economy; some goods
and services are bought by governments, and some are bought by firms that
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plan to use them in the future to produce their own output. Yet the basic lesson
remains the same: Regardless of whether a household, government, or firm buys
a good or service, the transaction has a buyer and seller. Thus, for the economy as
a whole, expenditure and income are always the same.
Quick Quiz What two things does gross domestic product measure? How can it
measure two things at once?
The Measurement of Gross Domestic Product
Having discussed the meaning of gross domestic product in general terms, let’s
be more precise about how this statistic is measured. Here is a definition of GDP
that focuses on GDP as a measure of total expenditure:
gross domestic
product (GDP)
the market value of all
final goods and services
produced within a country
in a given period of time
• Gross domestic product (GDP) is the market value of all final goods and
services produced within a country in a given period of time.
This definition might seem simple enough. But in fact, many subtle issues arise
when computing an economy’s GDP. Let’s therefore consider each phrase in this
definition with some care.
“GDP Is the Market Value . . .”
You have probably heard the adage, “You can’t compare apples and oranges.” Yet
GDP does exactly that. GDP adds together many different kinds of products into a
single measure of the value of economic activity. To do this, it uses market prices.
Because market prices measure the amount people are willing to pay for different
goods, they reflect the value of those goods. If the price of an apple is twice the
price of an orange, then an apple contributes twice as much to GDP as does an
orange.
“. . . of All . . .”
GDP tries to be comprehensive. It includes all items produced in the economy and
sold legally in markets. GDP measures the market value of not just apples and
oranges but also pears and grapefruit, books and movies, haircuts and healthcare,
and on and on.
GDP also includes the market value of the housing services provided by the
economy’s stock of housing. For rental housing, this value is easy to calculate—
the rent equals both the tenant’s expenditure and the landlord’s income. Yet many
people own the place where they live and, therefore, do not pay rent. The government includes this owner-occupied housing in GDP by estimating its rental value.
In effect, GDP is based on the assumption that the owner is renting the house to
himself. The imputed rent is included both in the homeowner’s expenditure and
in his income, so it adds to GDP.
There are some products, however, that GDP excludes because measuring
them is so difficult. GDP excludes most items produced and sold illicitly, such
as illegal drugs. It also excludes most items that are produced and consumed at
home and, therefore, never enter the marketplace. Vegetables you buy at the grocery store are part of GDP; vegetables you grow in your garden are not.
These exclusions from GDP can at times lead to paradoxical results. For example, when Karen pays Doug to mow her lawn, that transaction is part of GDP. If
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Karen were to marry Doug, the situation would change. Even though Doug may
continue to mow Karen’s lawn, the value of the mowing is now left out of GDP
because Doug’s service is no longer sold in a market. Thus, when Karen and Doug
marry, GDP falls.
“. . . Final . . .”
When International Paper makes paper, which Hallmark then uses to make a
greeting card, the paper is called an intermediate good, and the card is called a final
good. GDP includes only the value of final goods. This is done because the value
of intermediate goods is already included in the prices of the final goods. Adding
the market value of the paper to the market value of the card would be double
counting. That is, it would (incorrectly) count the paper twice.
An important exception to this principle arises when an intermediate good is
produced and, rather than being used, is added to a firm’s inventory of goods for
use or sale at a later date. In this case, the intermediate good is taken to be “final”
for the moment, and its value as inventory investment is included as part of GDP.
Thus, additions to inventory add to GDP, and when the goods in inventory are
later used or sold, the reductions in inventory subtract from GDP.
“. . . Goods and Services . . .”
GDP includes both tangible goods (food, clothing, cars) and intangible services
(haircuts, housecleaning, doctor visits). When you buy a CD by your favorite
band, you are buying a good, and the purchase price is part of GDP. When you
pay to hear a concert by the same band, you are buying a service, and the ticket
price is also part of GDP.
“. . . Produced . . .”
GDP includes goods and services currently produced. It does not include transactions involving items produced in the past. When Ford produces and sells a new
car, the value of the car is included in GDP. When one person sells a used car to
another person, the value of the used car is not included in GDP.
“. . . Within a Country . . .”
GDP measures the value of production within the geographic confines of a country. When a Canadian citizen works temporarily in the United States, her production is part of U.S. GDP. When an American citizen owns a factory in Haiti, the
production at his factory is not part of U.S. GDP. (It is part of Haiti’s GDP.) Thus,
items are included in a nation’s GDP if they are produced domestically, regardless
of the nationality of the producer.
“. . . In a Given Period of Time.”
GDP measures the value of production that takes place within a specific interval
of time. Usually, that interval is a year or a quarter (three months). GDP measures
the economy’s flow of income and expenditure during that interval.
When the government reports the GDP for a quarter, it usually presents GDP
“at an annual rate.” This means that the figure reported for quarterly GDP is the
amount of income and expenditure during the quarter multiplied by 4. The government uses this convention so that quarterly and annual figures on GDP can be
compared more easily.
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In addition, when the government reports quarterly GDP, it presents the data
after they have been modified by a statistical procedure called seasonal adjustment. The unadjusted data show clearly that the economy produces more goods
and services during some times of year than during others. (As you might guess,
December’s holiday shopping season is a high point.) When monitoring the condition of the economy, economists and policymakers often want to look beyond
these regular seasonal changes. Therefore, government statisticians adjust the
quarterly data to take out the seasonal cycle. The GDP data reported in the news
are always seasonally adjusted.
Now let’s repeat the definition of GDP:
• Gross domestic product (GDP) is the market value of all final goods and
services produced within a country in a given period of time.
This definition focuses on GDP as total expenditure in the economy. But don’t
forget that every dollar spent by a buyer of a good or service becomes a dollar
of income to the seller of that good or service. Therefore, in addition to applying
this definition, the government adds up total income in the economy. The two
ways of calculating GDP give almost exactly the same answer. (Why “almost”?
Although the two measures should be precisely the same, data sources are not
perfect. The difference between the two calculations of GDP is called the statistical
discrepancy.)
It should be apparent that GDP is a sophisticated measure of the value of
economic activity. In advanced courses in macroeconomics, you will learn more
about the subtleties that arise in its calculation. But even now you can see that
each phrase in this definition is packed with meaning.
QUICK QUIZ Which contributes more to GDP—the production of a pound of
hamburger or the production of a pound of caviar? Why?
The Components of GDP
Spending in the economy takes many forms. At any moment, the Smith family
may be having lunch at Burger King; Ford may be building a car factory; the Navy
may be procuring a submarine; and British Airways may be buying an airplane
from Boeing. GDP includes all of these various forms of spending on domestically
produced goods and services.
To understand how the economy is using its scarce resources, economists
study the composition of GDP among various types of spending. To do this, GDP
(which we denote as Y) is divided into four components: consumption (C), investment (I), government purchases (G), and net exports (NX):
Y = C + I + G + NX.
This equation is an identity—an equation that must be true because of how the
variables in the equation are defined. In this case, because each dollar of expenditure included in GDP is placed into one of the four components of GDP, the total
of the four components must be equal to GDP. Let’s look at each of these four
components more closely.
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FYI
Other Measures of Income
W
hen the U.S. Department of Commerce computes the nation’s
GDP every three months, it also computes various other
measures of income to get a more complete picture of what’s happening in the economy. These other measures differ from GDP by
excluding or including certain categories of income. What follows is
a brief description of five of these income measures, ordered from
largest to smallest.
•
•
•
Gross national product (GNP) is the total income earned by a
nation’s permanent residents (called nationals). It differs from
GDP by including income that our citizens earn abroad and
excluding income that foreigners earn here. For example, when
a Canadian citizen works temporarily in the United States, her
production is part of U.S. GDP, but it is not part of U.S. GNP. (It is
part of Canada’s GNP.) For most countries, including the United
States, domestic residents are responsible for most domestic
production, so GDP and GNP are quite close.
Net national product (NNP) is the total income of a nation’s residents (GNP) minus losses from depreciation. Depreciation is the
wear and tear on the economy’s stock of equipment and structures, such as trucks rusting and computers becoming obsolete.
In the national income accounts prepared by the Department
of Commerce, depreciation is called the “consumption of fixed
capital.”
National income is the total income earned by a nation’s residents
in the production of goods and services. It is almost identical
•
•
to net national product. These two measures differ because
of the statistical discrepancy that arises from problems in data
collection.
Personal income is the income that households and noncorporate
businesses receive. Unlike national income, it excludes retained
earnings, which is income that corporations have earned but
have not paid out to their owners. It also subtracts indirect business taxes (such as sales taxes), corporate income taxes, and
contributions for social insurance (mostly Social Security taxes).
In addition, personal income includes the interest income that
households receive from their holdings of government debt and
the income that households receive from government transfer
programs, such as welfare and Social Security.
Disposable personal income is the income that households
and noncorporate businesses have left after satisfying all their
obligations to the government. It equals personal income minus
personal taxes and certain nontax payments (such as traffic
tickets).
Although the various measures of income differ in detail, they
almost always tell the same story about economic conditions.
When GDP is growing rapidly, these other measures of income
are usually growing rapidly. And when GDP is falling, these other
measures are usually falling as well. For monitoring fluctuations in
the overall economy, it does not matter much which measure of
income we use.
Consumption
Consumption is spending by households on goods and services, with the exception of purchases of new housing. Goods include household spending on durable
goods, such as automobiles and appliances, and nondurable goods, such as food
and clothing. Services include such intangible items as haircuts and medical care.
Household spending on education is also included in consumption of services
(although one might argue that it would fit better in the next component).
Investment
Investment is the purchase of goods that will be used in the future to produce more
goods and services. It is the sum of purchases of capital equipment, inventories,
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-023.indd 497
consumption
spending by households
on goods and services,
with the exception of
purchases of new housing
investment
spending on capital
equipment, inventories,
and structures, including
household purchases of
new housing
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and structures. Investment in structures includes expenditure on new housing. By
convention, the purchase of a new house is the one form of household spending
categorized as investment rather than consumption.
As mentioned earlier in this chapter, the treatment of inventory accumulation is noteworthy. When Dell produces a computer and adds it to its inventory
instead of selling it, Dell is assumed to have “purchased” the computer for itself.
That is, the national income accountants treat the computer as part of Dell’s
investment spending. (If Dell later sells the computer out of inventory, Dell’s
inventory investment will then be negative, offsetting the positive expenditure of
the buyer.) Inventories are treated this way because one aim of GDP is to measure
the value of the economy’s production, and goods added to inventory are part of
that period’s production.
Notice that GDP accounting uses the word investment differently from how
you might hear the term in everyday conversation. When you hear the word
investment, you might think of financial investments, such as stocks, bonds, and
mutual funds—topics that we study later in this book. By contrast, because GDP
measures expenditure on goods and services, here the word investment means
purchases of goods (such as capital equipment, structures, and inventories) used
to produce other goods.
Government Purchases
government
purchases
spending on goods and
services by local, state,
and federal governments
Government purchases include spending on goods and services by local, state,
and federal governments. It includes the salaries of government workers as well
as expenditures on public works. Recently, the U.S. national income accounts
have switched to the longer label government consumption expenditure and gross
investment, but in this book, we will use the traditional and shorter term government purchases.
The meaning of government purchases requires a bit of clarification. When the
government pays the salary of an Army general or a schoolteacher, that salary is
part of government purchases. But when the government pays a Social Security
benefit to a person who is elderly or an unemployment insurance benefit to a
worker who was recently laid off, the story is very different: These are called
transfer payments because they are not made in exchange for a currently produced
good or service. Transfer payments alter household income, but they do not
reflect the economy’s production. (From a macroeconomic standpoint, transfer
payments are like negative taxes.) Because GDP is intended to measure income
from, and expenditure on, the production of goods and services, transfer payments are not counted as part of government purchases.
Net Exports
net exports
spending on domestically produced goods by
foreigners (exports) minus
spending on foreign
goods by domestic
residents (imports)
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Net exports equal the foreign purchases of domestically produced goods
(exports) minus the domestic purchases of foreign goods (imports). A domestic
firm’s sale to a buyer in another country, such as Boeing’s sale of an airplane to
British Airways, increases net exports.
The net in net exports refers to the fact that imports are subtracted from exports.
This subtraction is made because other components of GDP include imports of
goods and services. For example, suppose that a household buys a $30,000 car
from Volvo, the Swedish carmaker. That transaction increases consumption by
$30,000 because car purchases are part of consumer spending. It also reduces
net exports by $30,000 because the car is an import. In other words, net exports
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Table
Total
(in billions of dollars)
Per Person
(in dollars)
Percent
of Total
Gross domestic product, Y
$14,259
$46,372
100%
Consumption, C
Investment, I
Government purchases, G
Net exports, NX
10,093
1,623
2,933
–390
32,823
5,278
9,540
–1,269
71
11
21
–3
203
1
GDP and Its
Components
This table shows total GDP for
the U.S. economy in 2009 and
the breakdown of GDP among its
four components. When reading
this table, recall the identity
Y = C + I + G + NX.
Source: U.S. Department of Commerce. Parts may not sum to totals due to rounding.
include goods and services produced abroad (with a minus sign) because these
goods and services are included in consumption, investment, and government
purchases (with a plus sign). Thus, when a domestic household, firm, or government buys a good or service from abroad, the purchase reduces net exports, but
because it also raises consumption, investment, or government purchases, it does
not affect GDP.
The Components of U.S. GDP
Table 1 shows the composition of U.S. GDP in 2009. In this year, the GDP of the
United States was over $14 trillion. Dividing this number by the 2009 U.S. population of 307 million yields GDP per person (sometimes called GDP per capita). In
2009 the income and expenditure of the average American was $46,372.
Consumption made up 71 percent of GDP, or $32,823 per person. Investment
was $5,278 per person. Government purchases were $9,540 per person. Net
exports were –$1,269 per person. This number is negative because Americans
spent more on foreign goods than foreigners spent on American goods.
These data come from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the part of the U.S.
Department of Commerce that produces the national income accounts. You can
find more recent data on GDP at its website, http://www.bea.gov. Q
QUICK QUIZ List the four components of expenditure. Which is the largest?
Real versus Nominal GDP
As we have seen, GDP measures the total spending on goods and services in all
markets in the economy. If total spending rises from one year to the next, at least
one of two things must be true: (1) the economy is producing a larger output
of goods and services, or (2) goods and services are being sold at higher prices.
When studying changes in the economy over time, economists want to separate
these two effects. In particular, they want a measure of the total quantity of goods
and services the economy is producing that is not affected by changes in the prices
of those goods and services.
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To do this, economists use a measure called real GDP. Real GDP answers a
hypothetical question: What would be the value of the goods and services produced this year if we valued these goods and services at the prices that prevailed
in some specific year in the past? By evaluating current production using prices
that are fixed at past levels, real GDP shows how the economy’s overall production of goods and services changes over time.
To see more precisely how real GDP is constructed, let’s consider an example.
A Numerical Example
nominal GDP
the production of goods
and services valued at
current prices
Table
Table 2 shows some data for an economy that produces only two goods: hot dogs
and hamburgers. The table shows the prices and quantities produced of the two
goods in the years 2010, 2011, and 2012.
To compute total spending in this economy, we would multiply the quantities
of hot dogs and hamburgers by their prices. In the year 2010, 100 hot dogs are sold
at a price of $1 per hot dog, so expenditure on hot dogs equals $100. In the same
year, 50 hamburgers are sold for $2 per hamburger, so expenditure on hamburgers also equals $100. Total expenditure in the economy—the sum of expenditure
on hot dogs and expenditure on hamburgers—is $200. This amount, the production of goods and services valued at current prices, is called nominal GDP.
The table shows the calculation of nominal GDP for these three years. Total
spending rises from $200 in 2010 to $600 in 2011 and then to $1,200 in 2012.
Part of this rise is attributable to the increase in the quantities of hot dogs and
hamburgers, and part is attributable to the increase in the prices of hot dogs and
hamburgers.
2
Prices and Quantities
Real and Nominal GDP
This table shows how to calculate
real GDP, nominal GDP, and the GDP
deflator for a hypothetical economy
that produces only hot dogs and
hamburgers.
Year
Price of
Hot Dogs
Quantity of
Hot Dogs
Price of
Hamburgers
Quantity of
Hamburgers
2010
2011
2012
$1
$2
$3
100
150
200
$2
$3
$4
50
100
150
Calculating Nominal GDP
2010
2011
2012
($1 per hot dog × 100 hot dogs) + ($2 per hamburger × 50 hamburgers) = $200
($2 per hot dog × 150 hot dogs) + ($3 per hamburger × 100 hamburgers) = $600
($3 per hot dog × 200 hot dogs) + ($4 per hamburger × 150 hamburgers) = $1,200
2010
2011
2012
($1 per hot dog × 100 hot dogs) + ($2 per hamburger × 50 hamburgers) = $200
($1 per hot dog × 150 hot dogs) + ($2 per hamburger × 100 hamburgers) = $350
($1 per hot dog × 200 hot dogs) + ($2 per hamburger × 150 hamburgers) = $500
Calculating Real GDP (base year 2010)
Calculating the GDP Deflator
2010
2011
2012
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-023.indd 500
($200 / $200) × 100 = 100
($600 / $350) × 100 = 171
($1,200 / $500) × 100 = 240
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To obtain a measure of the amount produced that is not affected by changes in
prices, we use real GDP, which is the production of goods and services valued at
constant prices. We calculate real GDP by first designating one year as a base year.
We then use the prices of hot dogs and hamburgers in the base year to compute
the value of goods and services in all the years. In other words, the prices in the
base year provide the basis for comparing quantities in different years.
Suppose that we choose 2010 to be the base year in our example. We can then
use the prices of hot dogs and hamburgers in 2010 to compute the value of goods
and services produced in 2010, 2011, and 2012. Table 2 shows these calculations.
To compute real GDP for 2010, we use the prices of hot dogs and hamburgers
in 2010 (the base year) and the quantities of hot dogs and hamburgers produced
in 2010. (Thus, for the base year, real GDP always equals nominal GDP.) To
compute real GDP for 2011, we use the prices of hot dogs and hamburgers in
2010 (the base year) and the quantities of hot dogs and hamburgers produced in
2011. Similarly, to compute real GDP for 2012, we use the prices in 2010 and the
quantities in 2012. When we find that real GDP has risen from $200 in 2010 to
$350 in 2011 and then to $500 in 2012, we know that the increase is attributable
to an increase in the quantities produced because the prices are being held fixed
at base-year levels.
To sum up: Nominal GDP uses current prices to place a value on the economy’s production of goods and services. Real GDP uses constant base-year prices to place a value
on the economy’s production of goods and services. Because real GDP is not affected by
changes in prices, changes in real GDP reflect only changes in the amounts being
produced. Thus, real GDP is a measure of the economy’s production of goods and
services.
Our goal in computing GDP is to gauge how well the overall economy is performing. Because real GDP measures the economy’s production of goods and
services, it reflects the economy’s ability to satisfy people’s needs and desires.
Thus, real GDP is a better gauge of economic well-being than is nominal GDP.
When economists talk about the economy’s GDP, they usually mean real GDP
rather than nominal GDP. And when they talk about growth in the economy,
they measure that growth as the percentage change in real GDP from one period
to another.
MEASURING A NATION’S INCOME
205
real GDP
the production of goods
and services valued at
constant prices
The GDP Deflator
As we have just seen, nominal GDP reflects both the quantities of goods and
services the economy is producing and the prices of those goods and services. By
contrast, by holding prices constant at base-year levels, real GDP reflects only the
quantities produced. From these two statistics, we can compute a third, called the
GDP deflator, which reflects only the prices of goods and services.
The GDP deflator is calculated as follows:
GDP deflator =
Nominal GDP
Real GDP
× 100.
Because nominal GDP and real GDP must be the same in the base year, the GDP
deflator for the base year always equals 100. The GDP deflator for subsequent
years measures the change in nominal GDP from the base year that cannot be
attributable to a change in real GDP.
The GDP deflator measures the current level of prices relative to the level
of prices in the base year. To see why this is true, consider a couple of simple
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-023.indd 501
GDP deflator
a measure of the price
level calculated as the
ratio of nominal GDP to
real GDP times 100
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examples. First, imagine that the quantities produced in the economy rise over
time but prices remain the same. In this case, both nominal and real GDP rise
together, so the GDP deflator is constant. Now suppose, instead, that prices rise
over time but the quantities produced stay the same. In this second case, nominal GDP rises but real GDP remains the same, so the GDP deflator rises as well.
Notice that, in both cases, the GDP deflator reflects what’s happening to prices,
not quantities.
Let’s now return to our numerical example in Table 2. The GDP deflator is
computed at the bottom of the table. For year 2010, nominal GDP is $200, and real
GDP is $200, so the GDP deflator is 100. (The deflator is always 100 in the base
year.) For the year 2011, nominal GDP is $600, and real GDP is $350, so the GDP
deflator is 171.
Economists use the term inflation to describe a situation in which the economy’s
overall price level is rising. The inflation rate is the percentage change in some
measure of the price level from one period to the next. Using the GDP deflator, the
inflation rate between two consecutive years is computed as follows:
Inflation rate in year 2 =
GDP deflator in year 2 – GDP deflator in year 1
GDP deflator in year 1
× 100.
Because the GDP deflator rose in year 2011 from 100 to 171, the inflation rate
is 100 × (171 – 100)/100, or 71 percent. In 2012, the GDP deflator rose to 240
from 171 the previous year, so the inflation rate is 100 × (240 – 171)/171, or
40 percent.
The GDP deflator is one measure that economists use to monitor the average
level of prices in the economy and thus the rate of inflation. The GDP deflator
gets its name because it can be used to take inflation out of nominal GDP—that
is, to “deflate” nominal GDP for the rise that is due to increases in prices. We
examine another measure of the economy’s price level, called the consumer price
index, in the next chapter, where we also describe the differences between the
two measures.
Real GDP over Recent History
Now that we know how real GDP is defined and measured, let’s look at what
this macroeconomic variable tells us about the recent history of the United States.
Figure 2 shows quarterly data on real GDP for the U.S. economy since 1965.
The most obvious feature of these data is that real GDP grows over time. The
real GDP of the U.S. economy in 2009 was almost four times its 1965 level. Put
differently, the output of goods and services produced in the United States has
grown on average about 3 percent per year. This continued growth in real GDP
enables the typical American to enjoy greater economic prosperity than his or her
parents and grandparents did.
A second feature of the GDP data is that growth is not steady. The upward
climb of real GDP is occasionally interrupted by periods during which GDP
declines, called recessions. Figure 2 marks recessions with shaded vertical bars.
(There is no ironclad rule for when the official business cycle dating committee
will declare that a recession has occurred, but an old rule of thumb is two consecutive quarters of falling real GDP.) Recessions are associated not only with lower
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MEASURING A NATION’S INCOME
Figure
Billions of
2005 dollars
207
2
16000
Real GDP in the United
States
14000
This figure shows quarterly
data on real GDP for the
U.S. economy since 1965.
Recessions—periods of
falling real GDP—are
marked with the shaded
vertical bars.
12000
10000
Real GDP
8000
Source: U.S. Department of Commerce.
6000
4000
2000
0
1965
1970
1975
1980
1985
1990
1995
2000
2005
2010
Year
incomes but also with other forms of economic distress: rising unemployment,
falling profits, increased bankruptcies, and so on.
Much of macroeconomics is aimed at explaining the long-run growth and
short-run fluctuations in real GDP. As we will see in the coming chapters, we
need different models for these two purposes. Because the short-run fluctuations
represent deviations from the long-run trend, we first examine the behavior of
key macroeconomic variables, including real GDP, in the long run. Then in later
chapters, we build on this analysis to explain short-run fluctuations. Q
QUICK QUIZ Define real GDP and nominal GDP. Which is a better measure of
economic well-being? Why?
Is GDP a Good Measure of Economic Well-Being?
Earlier in this chapter, GDP was called the best single measure of the economic
well-being of a society. Now that we know what GDP is, we can evaluate this claim.
As we have seen, GDP measures both the economy’s total income and the economy’s total expenditure on goods and services. Thus, GDP per person tells us the
income and expenditure of the average person in the economy. Because most people
would prefer to receive higher income and enjoy higher expenditure, GDP per person seems a natural measure of the economic well-being of the average individual.
Yet some people dispute the validity of GDP as a measure of well-being. When
Senator Robert Kennedy was running for president in 1968, he gave a moving
critique of such economic measures:
[Gross domestic product] does not allow for the health of our children, the
quality of their education, or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty
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of our poetry or the strength of our marriages, the intelligence of our public
debate or the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our courage,
nor our wisdom, nor our devotion to our country. It measures everything, in
short, except that which makes life worthwhile, and it can tell us everything
about America except why we are proud that we are Americans.
Much of what Robert Kennedy said is correct. Why, then, do we care about GDP?
The answer is that a large GDP does in fact help us to lead a good life. GDP
does not measure the health of our children, but nations with larger GDP can
afford better healthcare for their children. GDP does not measure the quality
of their education, but nations with larger GDP can afford better educational
systems. GDP does not measure the beauty of our poetry, but nations with
larger GDP can afford to teach more of their citizens to read and enjoy poetry.
GDP does not take account of our intelligence, integrity, courage, wisdom,
in the news
The Underground Economy
The gross domestic product misses many transactions that take place in
the underground economy.
Searching for the
Hidden Economy
BY DOUG CAMPBELL
H
ere is the brief, unremarkable story of
how I recently came to participate in the
underground economy:
Midafternoon on the iciest day this past
winter, a man knocked at my front door.
“Shovel your walk?” he asked. “Only $5.”
Outside, it was a bone-chilling 15
degrees. “Sold,” I said. A half-hour later I
handed over a five-dollar bill and thanked
him for saving me the trouble.
Officially, this was an unofficial transaction—off the books, with no taxes
paid or safety regulations followed. (At
least, I assume this hired hand didn’t
bother to report that income or register
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-023.indd 504
with the proper authorities.) As such, it
was technically illegal. And, of course,
International Differences in the
Underground Economy
Country
Bolivia
Zimbabwe
Peru
Thailand
Mexico
Argentina
Sweden
Australia
United Kingdom
Japan
Switzerland
United States
Underground
Economy as a
Percentage of GDP
68 percent
63
61
54
33
29
18
13
12
11
9
8
Source: Friedrich Schneider. Figures are for 2002.
it’s the sort of thing that happens all the
time.
The size of the official U.S. economy,
as measured by Gross Domestic Product
(GDP), was almost $12 trillion in 2004.
Measurements of the unofficial economy—
not including illegal activities like drug
dealing and prostitution—differ substantially. But it’s generally agreed to be significant, somewhere between 6 percent and 20
percent of GDP. At the midpoint, this would
be about $1.5 trillion a year.
Broadly defined, the underground, gray,
informal, or shadow economy involves otherwise legal transactions that go unreported
or unrecorded. That’s a wide net, capturing
everything from babysitting fees, to bartering home repairs with a neighbor, to failing to report pay from moonlighting gigs.
The “underground” label tends to make it
sound much more sinister than it really is.
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209
© KEN CHERNUS/TAXI/GETTY IMAGES
or devotion to country, but all of these laudable attributes are easier to foster
when people are less concerned about being able to afford the material necessities of life. In short, GDP does not directly measure those things that make
life worthwhile, but it does measure our ability to obtain many of the inputs
into a worthwhile life.
GDP is not, however, a perfect measure of well-being. Some things that contribute to a good life are left out of GDP. One is leisure. Suppose, for instance,
that everyone in the economy suddenly started working every day of the week,
rather than enjoying leisure on weekends. More goods and services would be
produced, and GDP would rise. Yet despite the increase in GDP, we should not
conclude that everyone would be better off. The loss from reduced leisure would
offset the gain from producing and consuming a greater quantity of goods and
services.
Criminal activities make up a large
portion of what could be termed the total
underground economy. Many studies have
been done on the economics of drug
dealing, prostitution, and gambling. But
because money from crime is almost never
recovered, many policymakers are more
interested in portions of the underground
economy that otherwise would be legal
if not hidden from authorities. Things like
shoveling walks.
Despite its intrigue, the informal economy’s importance and consequences remain
in debate. The reason: “You’re trying to
measure a phenomenon whose entire purpose is to hide itself from observation,” says
Ed Feige, an economist at the University of
Wisconsin.
This uncertainty poses problems for
policymakers. Without knowing the precise
size, scope, and causes of the underground
economy, how can they decide what—if
anything—to do about it?
Was the man who shoveled my walk
engaging in a socially positive or negative
activity? Was I? Suffice it to say, some
economists have dedicated their entire
careers to answering questions about the
underground economy—and still there is
A Shadowy Enterprise?
nothing close to a consensus about its size
or description. . . .
Economists generally agree that the
shadow economy is worse in developing
nations, whose webs of bureaucratic red
tape and corruption are notorious. For
instance, [economist Friedrich] Schneider
in 2003 published “shadow economy” estimates (defined broadly as all market-based,
legal production of goods and services
deliberately concealed from the authorities)
for countries including: Zimbabwe, estimated at a whopping 63.2 percent of GDP,
Thailand’s at 54.1 percent, and Bolivia’s at
68.3 percent. Among former Soviet bloc
nations, Georgia led the way with a 68 percent of GDP shadow economy, and together
those nations had an average 40.1 percent
of GDP underground. This contrasts with an
average of 16.7 percent among Western
nations. . . .
In his 2003 book, Reefer Madness: Sex,
Drugs and Cheap Labor in the American
Black Market, investigative writer Eric
Schlosser invokes Adam Smith’s “invisible hand” theory that men pursuing their
own self-interest will generate benefits
for society as a whole. This invisible hand
has produced a fairly sizable underground
economy, and we cannot understand our
entire economic system without understanding how the hidden underbelly functions, too. “The underground is a good
measure of the progress and the health of
nations,” Schlosser writes. “When much
is wrong, much needs to be hidden.”
Schlosser’s implication was that much is
wrong in the United States. If he had taken
a more global view, he might have decided
relatively little is hidden here.
Source: “Region Focus,” Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, Spring 2005.
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© VISIONS OF AMERICA/JOE SOHM/GETTY IMAGES
210
GDP reflects the factory’s
production, but not the
harm that it inflicts on
the environment.
Because GDP uses market prices to value goods and services, it excludes the
value of almost all activity that takes place outside markets. In particular, GDP
omits the value of goods and services produced at home. When a chef prepares a
delicious meal and sells it at his restaurant, the value of that meal is part of GDP.
But if the chef prepares the same meal for his family, the value he has added to
the raw ingredients is left out of GDP. Similarly, child care provided in day-care
centers is part of GDP, whereas child care by parents at home is not. Volunteer
work also contributes to the well-being of those in society, but GDP does not
reflect these contributions.
Another thing that GDP excludes is the quality of the environment. Imagine
that the government eliminated all environmental regulations. Firms could then
produce goods and services without considering the pollution they create, and
GDP might rise. Yet well-being would most likely fall. The deterioration in the
quality of air and water would more than offset the gains from greater production.
GDP also says nothing about the distribution of income. A society in which
100 people have annual incomes of $50,000 has GDP of $5 million and, not
surprisingly, GDP per person of $50,000. So does a society in which 10 people
in the news
Beyond Gross Domestic Product
With the encouragement of the French president, some economists
wonder whether we need better measures of economic well-being.
GDP Seen as
Inadequate Measure
of Economic Health
BY DAVID JOLLY
P
ARIS—President Nicolas Sarkozy told
the French national statistics agency
Monday to take greater account of factors
like quality of life and the environment when
measuring the country’s economic health.
Mr. Sarkozy made the request after
accepting a report from a panel of top
economists he had charged with reviewing
the adequacy of the current standard of fiscal well-being: gross domestic product.
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-023.indd 506
The panel, chaired by two Nobel economists, Joseph E. Stiglitz of Columbia
University and Amartya Sen of Harvard
University, concluded that GDP was insufficient and that measures of sustainability and human well-being should be
included.
An “excessive focus on GDP metrics”
also contributed to the onset of the current
financial crisis, according to the report. Policy
makers cheered rising economic growth
while other data, like those that showed the
increasing and unsustainable indebtedness of
households and businesses, were overlooked,
the report found.
“The main message is to get away
from GDP fetishism and to understand the
limits to it,” Mr. Stiglitz said in an interview.
“There are many aspects of our society that
are not covered by GDP.”…
GDP is the measure of the market value
of all the goods and services produced in the
economy. Its development in the 1930s, when
the U.S. government was looking for new tools
to measure national income and output more
accurately, has been described as one of the
most important advances in macroeconomics.
However, there has long been criticism
that, while it accurately captures the growth
or contraction of the overall economy, it is
a crude tool for describing social health.
The United States, for example, with
the world’s largest economy, naturally tops
GDP rankings, but it ranks lower by other
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211
earn $500,000 and 90 suffer with nothing at all. Few people would look at those
two situations and call them equivalent. GDP per person tells us what happens
to the average person, but behind the average lies a large variety of personal
experiences.
In the end, we can conclude that GDP is a good measure of economic wellbeing for most—but not all—purposes. It is important to keep in mind what GDP
includes and what it leaves out.
International Differences in GDP and
the Quality of Life
© ALBERT OLIVE/EPA/LANDOV
One way to gauge the usefulness of GDP as a measure of economic well-being is
to examine international data. Rich and poor countries have vastly different levels
of GDP per person. If a large GDP leads to a higher standard of living, then we
should observe GDP to be strongly correlated with various measures of the quality of life. And, in fact, we do.
measures. The United Nations Development
Program’s human development index, which
incorporates GDP as only one of a number
of criteria, ranked Iceland, Norway and
Canada the top three spots in 2008, with
the United States a distant 15th. The human
development indexes also seek to incorporate the value of a long and healthy life,
access to knowledge and a decent standard
of living.
As an alternative to the developed
world’s pursuit of GDP, the Himalayan
kingdom of Bhutan has chosen to focus on
“gross national happiness,” complete with
the 4 pillars, the 9 domains and the 72
indicators of happiness….
The Stiglitz commission report, known
formally as “The Measurement of Economic
Performance and Social Progress Revisited,”
said that one of the most glaring problems with
using economic growth as a proxy for wellbeing was the fact that it excluded the damage
to society and ultimately to the economy of
environmentally non-sustainable activities.
For instance, “developing countries
may be encouraged to allow a foreign
mining company to develop a mine, even
though the country receives low royalties,
even though the environment may be
degraded, and even though miners may
be exposed to health hazards,” the report
says, “because by doing so GDP will be
increased.”
They also identify another problem with
the reliance on GDP and other “standard”
measures: the gap between what the
numbers say and what people are actually
experiencing. Over the course of recent
decades, they note, GDP was rising in most
of the world, even as the median disposable
income—the income of the “representative
individual”—was falling in many countries,
meaning that a large share of the gains
from economic growth ended up in the
hands of the wealthy at the expense of
the rest.
The specific recommendations include
ensuring that GDP itself is measured the
same in every country, as statistical agencies calculate it differently from one country
to the next, leading in some cases, to large
variations in the way government services
are valued. That has the potential to lead to
policy mistakes, they warned.
“What we measure affects what we do;
and if our measurements are flawed, decisions may be distorted,” they wrote. “Policies
should be aimed at increasing societal welfare, not GDP.”
Economist Joe Stiglitz
Source: New York Times, September 15, 2009.
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PART IV
Country
THE DATA OF MACROECONOMICS
Real GDP per
Person (2007)
Life
Expectancy
Adult
Literacy
(% of population)
$45,592
34,401
33,632
14, 690
14,104
9,567
5,383
3,843
2,753
2,496
1,969
1,241
79 years
80
83
66
76
72
73
71
63
66
48
66
99%
99
99
99
93
90
93
92
66
54
72
54
United States
Germany
Japan
Russia
Mexico
Brazil
China
Indonesia
India
Pakistan
Nigeria
Bangladesh
Internet
Usage
(% of population)
63%
45
67
15
18
19
9
7
3
7
4
0.3
Table
3
GDP and the Quality
of Life
The table shows GDP per person
and three other measures of the
quality of life for twelve major
countries.
Source: Human Development Report 2009, United Nations. Data on real GDP, life expectancy, and literacy are for 2007. Data on
Internet use is for 2005.
Table 3 shows twelve of the world’s most populous countries ranked in order
of GDP per person. The table also shows life expectancy (the expected life span at
birth), literacy (the percentage of the adult population who can read), and Internet
usage (the percentage of the population that regularly uses the Internet). These
data show a clear pattern. In rich countries, such as the United States, Japan, and
Germany, people can expect to live to about 80, almost all of the population can
read, and a half to two-thirds of the population uses the Internet. In poor countries,
such as Nigeria, Bangladesh, and Pakistan, people typically die 10 to 20 years earlier,
a substantial share of the population is illiterate, and Internet usage is rare.
Data on other aspects of the quality of life tell a similar story. Countries with
low GDP per person tend to have more infants with low birth weight, higher
rates of infant mortality, higher rates of maternal mortality, higher rates of child
malnutrition, and less common access to safe drinking water. In countries with
low GDP per person, fewer school-age children are actually in school, and those
who are in school must learn with fewer teachers per student. These countries also
tend to have fewer televisions, fewer telephones, fewer paved roads, and fewer
households with electricity. International data leave no doubt that a nation’s GDP
per person is closely associated with its citizens’ standard of living. Q
QUICK QUIZ Why should policymakers care about GDP?
Conclusion
This chapter has discussed how economists measure the total income of a nation.
Measurement is, of course, only a starting point. Much of macroeconomics is
aimed at revealing the long-run and short-run determinants of a nation’s gross
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213
domestic product. Why, for example, is GDP higher in the United States and
Japan than in India and Nigeria? What can the governments of the poorest countries do to promote more rapid GDP growth? Why does GDP in the United States
rise rapidly in some years and fall in others? What can U.S. policymakers do to
reduce the severity of these fluctuations in GDP? These are the questions we will
take up shortly.
At this point, it is important to acknowledge the significance of just measuring GDP. We all get some sense of how the economy is doing as we go about our
lives. But the economists who study changes in the economy and the policymakers who formulate economic policies need more than this vague sense—they need
concrete data on which to base their judgments. Quantifying the behavior of the
economy with statistics such as GDP is, therefore, the first step to developing a
science of macroeconomics.
SUMMARY
• Because every transaction has a buyer and a
seller, the total expenditure in the economy must
equal the total income in the economy.
• Gross domestic product (GDP) measures an
economy’s total expenditure on newly produced
goods and services and the total income earned
from the production of these goods and services.
More precisely, GDP is the market value of all
final goods and services produced within a
country in a given period of time.
• GDP is divided among four components of expenditure: consumption, investment, government
purchases, and net exports. Consumption includes
spending on goods and services by households,
with the exception of purchases of new housing.
Investment includes spending on new equipment
and structures, including households’ purchases
of new housing. Government purchases include
spending on goods and services by local, state, and
federal governments. Net exports equal the value
of goods and services produced domestically and
sold abroad (exports) minus the value of goods
and services produced abroad and sold domestically (imports).
• Nominal GDP uses current prices to value the
economy’s production of goods and services.
Real GDP uses constant base-year prices to value
the economy’s production of goods and services.
The GDP deflator—calculated from the ratio
of nominal to real GDP—measures the level of
prices in the economy.
• GDP is a good measure of economic well-being
because people prefer higher to lower incomes.
But it is not a perfect measure of well-being. For
example, GDP excludes the value of leisure and
the value of a clean environment.
KEY CONCEPTS
CONC EPTS
microeconomics, p. 196
macroeconomics, p. 196
gross domestic product
(GDP), p. 198
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-023.indd 509
consumption, p. 201
investment, p. 201
government purchases, p. 202
net exports, p. 202
nominal GDP, p. 204
real GDP, p. 205
GDP deflator, p. 205
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QU S IO
QUEST
IONS
O NS
S FOR
O R EVIEW
1. Explain why an economy’s income must equal
its expenditure.
2. Which contributes more to GDP—the production
of an economy car or the production of a luxury
car? Why?
3. A farmer sells wheat to a baker for $2. The
baker uses the wheat to make bread, which is
sold for $3. What is the total contribution of
these transactions to GDP?
4. Many years ago, Peggy paid $500 to put
together a record collection. Today, she sold her
albums at a garage sale for $100. How does this
sale affect current GDP?
5. List the four components of GDP. Give an
example of each.
6. Why do economists use real GDP rather
than nominal GDP to gauge economic
well-being?
7. In the year 2010, the economy produces 100
loaves of bread that sell for $2 each. In the year
2011, the economy produces 200 loaves of bread
that sell for $3 each. Calculate nominal GDP,
real GDP, and the GDP deflator for each year.
(Use 2010 as the base year.) By what percentage
does each of these three statistics rise from one
year to the next?
8. Why is it desirable for a country to have a large
GDP? Give an example of something that would
raise GDP and yet be undesirable.
PROBLEMS
PRO
O BLEMS
S AND APPLICATIO
APPLICATIONS
C
O NS
S
1. What components of GDP (if any) would each
of the following transactions affect? Explain.
a. A family buys a new refrigerator.
b. Aunt Jane buys a new house.
c. Ford sells a Mustang from its inventory.
d. You buy a pizza.
e. California repaves Highway 101.
f. Your parents buy a bottle of French wine.
g. Honda expands its factory in Marysville,
Ohio.
2. The government purchases component of GDP
does not include spending on transfer payments
such as Social Security. Thinking about the
definition of GDP, explain why transfer
payments are excluded.
3. As the chapter states, GDP does not include
the value of used goods that are resold.
Why would including such transactions make
GDP a less informative measure of economic
well-being?
4. Below are some data from the land of milk and
honey.
Year
Price of
Milk
Quantity of
Milk
Price of
Honey
2010
2011
2012
$1
$1
$2
100 quarts
200
200
$2
$2
$4
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-023.indd 510
Quantity of
Honey
50 quarts
100
100
a. Compute nominal GDP, real GDP, and the
GDP deflator for each year, using 2010 as the
base year.
b. Compute the percentage change in nominal
GDP, real GDP, and the GDP deflator in
2011 and 2012 from the preceding year. For
each year, identify the variable that does not
change. Explain in words why your answer
makes sense.
c. Did economic well-being rise more in 2011 or
2012? Explain.
5. Consider an economy that produces only
chocolate bars. In year 1, the quantity produced
is 3 bars and the price is $4. In year 2, the
quantity produced is 4 bars and the price is $5.
In year 3, the quantity produced is 5 bars and
the price is $6. Year 1 is the base year.
a. What is nominal GDP for each of these three
years?
b. What is real GDP for each of these years?
c. What is the GDP deflator for each of these years?
d. What is the percentage growth rate of real
GDP from year 2 to year 3?
e. What is the inflation rate as measured by the
GDP deflator from year 2 to year 3?
f. In this one-good economy, how might you
have answered parts (d) and (e) without first
answering parts (b) and (c)?
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CHAPTER 10
6. Consider the following data on U.S. GDP:
Year
Nominal GDP
(in billions of dollars)
GDP Deflator
(base year 2005)
2009
1999
14,256
9,353
109.8
86.8
a. What was the growth rate of nominal GDP
between 1999 and 2009? (Hint: The growth
rate of a variable X over a N-year period is
calculated as 100 × [(Xfinal/Xinitial)1/N – 1].)
b. What was the growth rate of the GDP
deflator between 1999 and 2009?
c. What was real GDP in 1999 measured in 2005
prices?
d. What was real GDP in 2009 measured in 2005
prices?
e. What was the growth rate of real GDP
between 1999 and 2009?
f. Was the growth rate of nominal GDP higher
or lower than the growth rate of real GDP?
Explain.
7. Revised estimates of U.S. GDP are usually
released by the government near the end of
each month. Find a newspaper article that
reports on the most recent release, or read the
news release yourself at http://www.bea.gov,
the website of the U.S. Bureau of Economic
Analysis. Discuss the recent changes in real and
nominal GDP and in the components of GDP.
8. A farmer grows wheat, which he sells to a
miller for $100. The miller turns the wheat into
flour, which he sells to a baker for $150. The
baker turns the wheat into bread, which he
sells to consumers for $180. Consumers eat the
bread.
a. What is GDP in this economy? Explain.
b. Value added is defined as the value of a
producer’s output minus the value of the
intermediate goods that the producer buys
to make the output. Assuming there are no
intermediate goods beyond those described
above, calculate the value added of each of
the three producers.
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-023.indd 511
MEASURING A NATION’S INCOME
215
c. What is total value added of the three producers
in this economy? How does it compare to the
economy’s GDP? Does this example suggest
another way of calculating GDP?
9. Goods and services that are not sold in markets,
such as food produced and consumed at home,
are generally not included in GDP. Can you
think of how this might cause the numbers in
the second column of Table 3 to be misleading
in a comparison of the economic well-being of
the United States and India? Explain.
10. The participation of women in the U.S. labor
force has risen dramatically since 1970.
a. How do you think this rise affected GDP?
b. Now imagine a measure of well-being that
includes time spent working in the home and
taking leisure. How would the change in this
measure of well-being compare to the change
in GDP?
c. Can you think of other aspects of well-being
that are associated with the rise in women’s
labor-force participation? Would it be
practical to construct a measure of well-being
that includes these aspects?
11. One day, Barry the Barber, Inc., collects $400
for haircuts. Over this day, his equipment
depreciates in value by $50. Of the remaining
$350, Barry sends $30 to the government in sales
taxes, takes home $220 in wages, and retains
$100 in his business to add new equipment in
the future. From the $220 that Barry takes home,
he pays $70 in income taxes. Based on this
information, compute Barry’s contribution to
the following measures of income.
a. gross domestic product
b. net national product
c. national income
d. personal income
e. disposable personal income
For further information on topics in this chapter,
additional problems, applications, examples, online
quizzes, and more, please visit our website at www
.cengage.com/economics/mankiw.
11/12/10 6:55 PM
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Measuring the
Cost of Living
11
I
n 1931, as the U.S. economy was suffering through the Great Depression, the
New York Yankees paid famed baseball player Babe Ruth a salary of $80,000.
At the time, this pay was extraordinary, even among the stars of baseball.
According to one story, a reporter asked Ruth whether he thought it was
right that he made more than President Herbert Hoover, who had a salary of only
$75,000. Ruth replied, “I had a better year.”
In 2010, the median salary earned by a player on the New York Yankees was
$5.5 million, and shortstop Alex Rodriguez was paid $33 million. At first, this fact
might lead you to think that baseball has become vastly more lucrative over the
past eight decades. But as everyone knows, the prices of goods and services have
also risen. In 1931, a nickel would buy an ice-cream cone, and a quarter would
buy a ticket at the local movie theater. Because prices were so much lower in Babe
Ruth’s day than they are today, it is not clear whether Ruth enjoyed a higher or
lower standard of living than today’s players.
217
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PART IV
THE DATA OF MACROECONOMICS
In the preceding chapter, we looked at how economists use gross domestic
product (GDP) to measure the quantity of goods and services that the economy
is producing. This chapter examines how economists measure the overall cost of
living. To compare Babe Ruth’s salary of $80,000 to salaries from today, we need
to find some way of turning dollar figures into meaningful measures of purchasing power. That is exactly the job of a statistic called the consumer price index. After
seeing how the consumer price index is constructed, we discuss how we can use
such a price index to compare dollar figures from different points in time.
The consumer price index is used to monitor changes in the cost of living over
time. When the consumer price index rises, the typical family has to spend more
money to maintain the same standard of living. Economists use the term inflation to
describe a situation in which the economy’s overall price level is rising. The inflation
rate is the percentage change in the price level from the previous period. The preceding chapter showed how economists can measure inflation using the GDP deflator. The inflation rate you are likely to hear on the nightly news, however, is not
calculated from this statistic. Because the consumer price index better reflects the
goods and services bought by consumers, it is the more common gauge of inflation.
As we will see in the coming chapters, inflation is a closely watched aspect
of macroeconomic performance and is a key variable guiding macroeconomic
policy. This chapter provides the background for that analysis by showing how
economists measure the inflation rate using the consumer price index and how
this statistic can be used to compare dollar figures from different times.
The Consumer Price Index
consumer price
index (CPI)
a measure of the overall
cost of the goods and
services bought by a
typical consumer
The consumer price index (CPI) is a measure of the overall cost of the goods and
services bought by a typical consumer. Each month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics
(BLS), which is part of the Department of Labor, computes and reports the consumer price index. In this section, we discuss how the consumer price index is
calculated and what problems arise in its measurement. We also consider how
this index compares to the GDP deflator, another measure of the overall level of
prices, which we examined in the preceding chapter.
How the Consumer Price Index Is Calculated
When the BLS calculates the consumer price index and the inflation rate, it uses
data on the prices of thousands of goods and services. To see exactly how these
statistics are constructed, let’s consider a simple economy in which consumers
buy only two goods: hot dogs and hamburgers. Table 1 shows the five steps that
the BLS follows.
1. Fix the basket. Determine which prices are most important to the typical consumer. If the typical consumer buys more hot dogs than hamburgers, then
the price of hot dogs is more important than the price of hamburgers and,
therefore, should be given greater weight in measuring the cost of living.
The BLS sets these weights by surveying consumers to find the basket of
goods and services bought by the typical consumer. In the example in the
table, the typical consumer buys a basket of 4 hot dogs and 2 hamburgers.
2. Find the prices. Find the prices of each of the goods and services in the basket
at each point in time. The table shows the prices of hot dogs and hamburgers
for three different years.
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CHAPTER 11
Step 1: Survey Consumers to Determine a Fixed Basket of Goods
Table
219
1
Calculating the
Consumer Price Index
and the Inflation Rate:
An Example
Basket = 4 hot dogs, 2 hamburgers
Step 2: Find the Price of Each Good in Each Year
Year
Price of Hot Dogs
Price of Hamburgers
2010
2011
2012
$1
2
3
$2
3
4
Step 3: Compute the Cost of the Basket of Goods in Each Year
2010
2011
2012
MEASURING THE COST OF LIVING
This table shows how to
calculate the consumer price
index and the inflation rate
for a hypothetical economy in
which consumers buy only hot
dogs and hamburgers.
($1 per hot dog × 4 hot dogs) + ($2 per hamburger × 2 hamburgers) = $8 per basket
($2 per hot dog × 4 hot dogs) + ($3 per hamburger × 2 hamburgers) = $14 per basket
($3 per hot dog × 4 hot dogs) + ($4 per hamburger × 2 hamburgers) = $20 per basket
Step 4: Choose One Year as a Base Year (2010) and Compute the Consumer Price Index
in Each Year
2010
2011
2012
($8 / $8) × 100 = 100
($14 / $8) × 100 = 175
($20 / $8) × 100 = 250
Step 5: Use the Consumer Price Index to Compute the Inflation Rate from Previous Year
2011
2012
(175 – 100) / 100 × 100 = 75%
(250 – 175) / 175 × 100 = 43%
3. Compute the basket’s cost. Use the data on prices to calculate the cost of the
basket of goods and services at different times. The table shows this calculation for each of the three years. Notice that only the prices in this calculation
change. By keeping the basket of goods the same (4 hot dogs and 2 hamburgers), we are isolating the effects of price changes from the effect of any
quantity changes that might be occurring at the same time.
4. Choose a base year and compute the index. Designate one year as the base year,
the benchmark against which other years are compared. (The choice of base
year is arbitrary, as the index is used to measure changes in the cost of
living.) Once the base year is chosen, the index is calculated as follows:
Consumer price index =
Price of basket of goods and services in current year
× 100.
Price of basket in base year
That is, the price of the basket of goods and services in each year is divided
by the price of the basket in the base year, and this ratio is then multiplied
by 100. The resulting number is the consumer price index.
In the example in the table, 2010 is the base year. In this year, the basket
of hot dogs and hamburgers costs $8. Therefore, the price of the basket in all
years is divided by $8 and multiplied by 100. The consumer price index is
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PART IV
THE DATA OF MACROECONOMICS
inflation rate
the percentage change in
the price index from the
preceding period
100 in 2010. (The index is always 100 in the base year.) The consumer price
index is 175 in 2011. This means that the price of the basket in 2011 is 175
percent of its price in the base year. Put differently, a basket of goods that
costs $100 in the base year costs $175 in 2011. Similarly, the consumer price
index is 250 in 2012, indicating that the price level in 2012 is 250 percent of
the price level in the base year.
5. Compute the inflation rate. Use the consumer price index to calculate the
inflation rate, which is the percentage change in the price index from the
preceding period. That is, the inflation rate between two consecutive years
is computed as follows:
Inflation rate in year 2 =
CPI in year 2 – CPI in year 1
CPI in year 1
× 100.
As shown at the bottom of Table 1, the inflation rate in our example is 75
percent in 2011 and 43 percent in 2012.
FYI
What Is in the CPI’s Basket?
W
hen constructing the consumer price index, the Bureau of
Labor Statistics tries to include all the goods and services that
the typical consumer buys. Moreover, it tries to weight these goods
and services according to how much consumers buy of each item.
Figure 1 shows the breakdown of consumer spending into the
major categories of goods and services. By far the largest category
is housing, which makes up 42 percent of the typical consumer’s
budget. This category includes the cost of shelter (32 percent),
fuel and other utilities (5 percent), and household furnishings and
operation (5 percent). The next largest category, at 17 percent, is
transportation, which includes spending on cars, gasoline, buses,
subways, and so on. The next category, at 15 percent, is food and
beverages; this includes food at home (8 percent), food away from
home (6 percent), and alcoholic beverages (1 percent). Next are
medical care, recreation, and education and communication, each
at about 6 percent. This last category includes, for example, college
tuition and personal computers. Apparel, which includes clothing,
footwear, and jewelry, makes up 4 percent of the typical consumer’s
budget.
Also included in the figure, at 3 percent of spending, is a category for other goods and services. This is a catchall for consumer
purchases (such as cigarettes, haircuts, and funeral expenses) that
do not naturally fit into the other categories.
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-024.indd 516
Figure
1
The Typical Basket of Goods and Services
This figure shows how the typical consumer divides
spending among various categories of goods and
services. The Bureau of Labor Statistics calls each
percentage the “relative importance” of the category.
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics.
17%
Transportation
15%
Food and
beverages
Education and
communication
42%
Housing
6%
7%
6%
4% 3%
Medical care
Recreation
Apparel
Other goods
and services
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CHAPTER 11
Although this example simplifies the real world by including only two
goods, it shows how the BLS computes the consumer price index and the inflation rate. The BLS collects and processes data on the prices of thousands of
goods and services every month and, by following the five foregoing steps,
determines how quickly the cost of living for the typical consumer is rising.
When the BLS makes its monthly announcement of the consumer price index,
you can usually hear the number on the evening television news or see it in the
next day’s newspaper.
In addition to the consumer price index for the overall economy, the BLS
calculates several other price indexes. It reports the index for specific metropolitan areas within the country (such as Boston, New York, and Los Angeles) and
for some narrow categories of goods and services (such as food, clothing, and
energy). It also calculates the producer price index (PPI), which measures the cost
of a basket of goods and services bought by firms rather than consumers. Because
firms eventually pass on their costs to consumers in the form of higher consumer
prices, changes in the producer price index are often thought to be useful in predicting changes in the consumer price index.
MEASURING THE COST OF LIVING
221
producer price
index
a measure of the cost of
a basket of goods and
services bought by firms
Problems in Measuring the Cost of Living
The goal of the consumer price index is to measure changes in the cost of living.
In other words, the consumer price index tries to gauge how much incomes must
rise to maintain a constant standard of living. The consumer price index, however,
is not a perfect measure of the cost of living. Three problems with the index are
widely acknowledged but difficult to solve.
The first problem is called substitution bias. When prices change from one year
to the next, they do not all change proportionately: Some prices rise more than
others. Consumers respond to these differing price changes by buying less of the
goods whose prices have risen by relatively large amounts and by buying more
of the goods whose prices have risen less or perhaps even have fallen. That is,
consumers substitute toward goods that have become relatively less expensive.
If a price index is computed assuming a fixed basket of goods, it ignores the possibility of consumer substitution and, therefore, overstates the increase in the cost
of living from one year to the next.
Let’s consider a simple example. Imagine that in the base year, apples are
cheaper than pears, so consumers buy more apples than pears. When the BLS
constructs the basket of goods, it will include more apples than pears. Suppose
that next year pears are cheaper than apples. Consumers will naturally respond to
the price changes by buying more pears and fewer apples. Yet when computing
the consumer price index, the BLS uses a fixed basket, which in essence assumes
that consumers continue buying the now expensive apples in the same quantities
as before. For this reason, the index will measure a much larger increase in the cost
of living than consumers actually experience.
The second problem with the consumer price index is the introduction of new
goods. When a new good is introduced, consumers have more variety from which
to choose, and this in turn reduces the cost of maintaining the same level of economic well-being. To see why, consider a hypothetical situation: Suppose you
could choose between a $100 gift certificate at a large store that offered a wide
array of goods and a $100 gift certificate at a small store with the same prices but
a more limited selection. Which would you prefer? Most people would pick the
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PART IV
THE DATA OF MACROECONOMICS
store with greater variety. In essence, the increased set of possible choices makes
each dollar more valuable. The same is true with the evolution of the economy
over time: As new goods are introduced, consumers have more choices, and each
dollar is worth more. Yet because the consumer price index is based on a fixed
basket of goods and services, it does not reflect the increase in the value of the
dollar that arises from the introduction of new goods.
Again, let’s consider an example. When video cassette recorders (VCRs) were
introduced in the late 1970s, consumers were able to watch their favorite movies
at home. Although not a perfect substitute for a first-run movie on a large screen,
an old movie in the comfort of your family room was a new option that increased
consumers’ set of opportunities. For any given number of dollars, the introduction of the VCR made people better off; conversely, achieving the same level of
economic well-being required a smaller number of dollars. A perfect cost-of-living
in the news
Shopping for the CPI
Behind every macroeconomic statistic are thousands of individual
pieces of data on the economy. This classic article follows one of the
economists who collect these data.
In the Field with the
Price Indexers
BY ROBERT D. HERSHEY, JR.
W
ILMINGTON, Del.—Her thick blue
binder in hand, Diane Balaguer strides
purposefully through the department store
in the Concord Mall north of town. She
checks the price of a women’s pullover
(short sleeve, solid color, no design), eyes
a Hastings & Smith polo shirt, notes the
seasonal absence of men’s turtlenecks and
then confronts the day’s first challenge to
statistical perfection.
Ms. Balaguer shakes her head slightly
as she regards a rack of Towne raincoats,
a style in the London Fog line (tagged at
the same $99.90 as the month before). She
considers Towne to be of slightly, almost
imperceptibly, lesser quality than the Severn
line (costing about twice as much) that they
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-024.indd 518
replaced this year. It’s a matter of things like
stitching and buttons.
Earlier this spring she had informed specialists in Washington of this not uncommon
situation but they overruled her suggestion
that she substitute another product. Thus do
tiny imprecisions creep unavoidably into the
Consumer Price Index, the most widely used
inflation measure, one directly affecting the
incomes of more than 70 million Americans,
Federal income-tax brackets and the cost of
school lunches.
“It’s not a black-and-white sort of determination,” Ms. Balaguer said. “Even though
we ask very specific questions to try to get
very specific answers, it takes a great deal of
judgment.”
When the price index is announced
monthly by the Labor Department, the
figure has the Olympian air common to
Government statistics. But a day spent with
Ms. Balaguer gives a vivid illustration of the
messiness inherent in the immense task of
monitoring changes in a $7 trillion economy. In any given month, she and several
hundred counterparts around the country
check the cost of 90,000 items—ranging
from catfish fillets to time spent in a hospital
recovery room. . . .
A trained economist who both supervises data collection and often goes on the
road herself, Ms. Balaguer expresses no
opinion about the debate over the price
index.
The system takes account of the possibility of human error or subversion—
cross-checks of other data collectors’ work is
standard procedure. “We’re taking our best
shot,” said Patrick C. Jackman, the index’s
chief day-to-day overseer in Washington.
“I don’t think we’re picking up many bad
quotes.”
Drawing on an annual Government survey of what people are buying, and at what
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MEASURING THE COST OF LIVING
223
© ALEXANDER WALTER/STONE/GETTY IMAGES
index would have reflected the introduction of the VCR with a decrease in the cost
of living. The consumer price index, however, did not decrease in response to the
introduction of the VCR. Eventually, the BLS did revise the basket of goods to
include VCRs, and subsequently, the index reflected changes in VCR prices. But
the reduction in the cost of living associated with the initial introduction of the
VCR never showed up in the index.
The third problem with the consumer price index is unmeasured quality change.
If the quality of a good deteriorates from one year to the next while its price
remains the same, the value of a dollar falls, because you are getting a lesser good
for the same amount of money. Similarly, if the quality rises from one year to
the next, the value of a dollar rises. The BLS does its best to account for quality
change. When the quality of a good in the basket changes—for example, when a
car model has more horsepower or gets better gas mileage from one year to the
kinds of outlets, headquarters tells the field
staff what items to price. The findings are
shipped by courier to Washington, where
they are run through the mill to be sure they
make sense. Because the bureau promises
its respondents confidentiality, it insists that
none of the 10 outlets Ms. Balaguer visits
be identified by name. But she did disclose
not only how prices in May compared with
April’s, but also explained in detail how
to handle such vexations as discontinued
products, clearance sales and what to do in
those rare cases when she suspects somebody of giving wrong prices.
One of the day’s most complicated
readings came at a garden shop just across
the state line in Pennsylvania where, after
finding 3 1/2-inch barrel cactus and 16-inch
Boston ferns unchanged in price (at $4
and $25, respectively) Ms. Balaguer found
that the requisite flower seeds, black-eyed
susans, were no longer being stocked.
After being told this was not just a
temporary situation, Ms. Balaguer’s solution
was to find a substitute seed in the same
product line to enter into the system on the
spot. With the aid of a table in her binder
that produces random numbers and with
some rapid-fire pointing at rows of seed
packets, the answer emerged in less than a
minute. From now on, she declared, “we’ll
use pampas grass” in the index.
Not every hurdle was so quickly overcome. She spent a sizable chunk of her
20-minute session with a hospital administrator to figure out how to adjust for a
confusing reconfiguration of recovery-room
charges that effectively halved the price.
“You have to be able to ask questions, to be a sort of Sherlock Holmes,”
Ms. Balaguer said.
Ms. Balaguer’s stop at a beer distributor
to check one-liter bottles of Canada Dry seltzer caused some embarrassment when she
questioned the assertion of Richard Gropper,
a proprietor, that the price was 84 cents. After
she observed that this would mean a 9-cent
rise from April he realized his mistake, adding
that he was glad to help with the index since
he periodically used it to adjust the rent of
tenants in the doughnut shop next door.
The hardest items to price, Ms. Balaguer
said, are electricity and natural gas, information the bureau gets directly from utilities
in statistically awkward form. Children’s
meals and meals in Chinese restaurants also
pose problems, even with menus to work
from, because they tend to include beverages for which separate prices are required,
Ms. Balaguer said.
Housing, which accounts for 41 percent
of the urban consumer index, is surveyed by
periodically questioning homeowners and
renters. For both groups, the question is
the same: What is the monthly rental value
of the property? When necessary, such as
when a house is vacant, she and her staff
ask real estate brokers and neighbors to get
housing data, Ms. Balaguer said.
Some surveyers might be bothered by
one potentially onerous job restriction. But
not Ms. Balaguer.
“We never carry purses because we’re
not allowed to shop while we work,” she
said. “Actually,” she added, noting that she
had originally worked in retailing, “I hate to
shop.”
Source: New York Times, June 20, 1995.
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THE DATA OF MACROECONOMICS
next—the Bureau adjusts the price of the good to account for the quality change.
It is, in essence, trying to compute the price of a basket of goods of constant quality. Despite these efforts, changes in quality remain a problem because quality is
so hard to measure.
There is still much debate among economists about how severe these measurement problems are and what should be done about them. Several studies written
during the 1990s concluded that the consumer price index overstated inflation by
about 1 percentage point per year. In response to this criticism, the BLS adopted
several technical changes to improve the CPI, and many economists believe the
bias is now only about half as large as it once was. The issue is important because
many government programs use the consumer price index to adjust for changes
in the overall level of prices. Recipients of Social Security, for instance, get annual
increases in benefits that are tied to the consumer price index. Some economists
have suggested modifying these programs to correct for the measurement problems by, for instance, reducing the magnitude of the automatic benefit increases.
“The price may seem a little
high, but you have to remember
that’s in today’s dollars.”
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-024.indd 520
In the preceding chapter, we examined another measure of the overall level of
prices in the economy—the GDP deflator. The GDP deflator is the ratio of nominal GDP to real GDP. Because nominal GDP is current output valued at current
prices and real GDP is current output valued at base-year prices, the GDP deflator
reflects the current level of prices relative to the level of prices in the base year.
Economists and policymakers monitor both the GDP deflator and the consumer price index to gauge how quickly prices are rising. Usually, these two statistics tell a similar story. Yet two important differences can cause them to diverge.
The first difference is that the GDP deflator reflects the prices of all goods and
services produced domestically, whereas the consumer price index reflects the prices
of all goods and services bought by consumers. For example, suppose that the price
of an airplane produced by Boeing and sold to the Air Force rises. Even though
the plane is part of GDP, it is not part of the basket of goods and services bought
by a typical consumer. Thus, the price increase shows up in the GDP deflator but
not in the consumer price index.
As another example, suppose that Volvo raises the price of its cars. Because
Volvos are made in Sweden, the car is not part of U.S. GDP. But U.S. consumers
buy Volvos, so the car is part of the typical consumer’s basket of goods. Hence,
a price increase in an imported consumption good, such as a Volvo, shows up in
the consumer price index but not in the GDP deflator.
This first difference between the consumer price index and the GDP deflator is
particularly important when the price of oil changes. Although the United States
does produce some oil, much of the oil we use is imported. As a result, oil and
oil products such as gasoline and heating oil are a much larger share of consumer
spending than of GDP. When the price of oil rises, the consumer price index rises
by much more than does the GDP deflator.
The second and subtler difference between the GDP deflator and the consumer
price index concerns how various prices are weighted to yield a single number
for the overall level of prices. The consumer price index compares the price of a
fixed basket of goods and services to the price of the basket in the base year. Only
occasionally does the Bureau of Labor Statistics change the basket of goods. By
contrast, the GDP deflator compares the price of currently produced goods and
services to the price of the same goods and services in the base year. Thus, the
© FROM THE WALL STREET JOURNAL—PERMISSION,
CARTOON FEATURES SYNDICATE.
The GDP Deflator versus the Consumer Price Index
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CHAPTER 11
MEASURING THE COST OF LIVING
Figure
Inflation Rate
(percent per year)
15%
225
2
Two Measures of
Inflation
This figure shows the
inflation rate—the
percentage change in
the level of prices—
as measured by the
GDP deflator and the
consumer price index
using annual data since
1965. Notice that the two
measures of inflation
generally move together.
CPI
10
5
GDP deflator
Source: U.S. Department of Labor;
U.S. Department of Commerce.
0
1
1965
1970
1975
1980
1985
1990
1995
2000
2005
2010
group of goods and services used to compute the GDP deflator changes automatically over time. This difference is not important when all prices are changing
proportionately. But if the prices of different goods and services are changing by
varying amounts, the way we weight the various prices matters for the overall
inflation rate.
Figure 2 shows the inflation rate as measured by both the GDP deflator and
the consumer price index for each year since 1965. You can see that sometimes
the two measures diverge. When they do diverge, it is possible to go behind these
numbers and explain the divergence with the two differences we have discussed.
For example, in 1979 and 1980, CPI inflation spiked up more than the GDP deflator largely because oil prices more than doubled during these two years. Yet
divergence between these two measures is the exception rather than the rule. In
the 1970s, both the GDP deflator and the consumer price index show high rates of
inflation. In the late 1980s, 1990s, and the first decade of the 2000s, both measures
show low rates of inflation.
QUICK QUIZ Explain briefly what the consumer price index measures and how it is
constructed. • Identify one reason why the CPI is an imperfect measure of the cost of
living.
Correcting Economic Variables for the Effects of Inflation
The purpose of measuring the overall level of prices in the economy is to allow
us to compare dollar figures from different times. Now that we know how price
indexes are calculated, let’s see how we might use such an index to compare a
dollar figure from the past to a dollar figure in the present.
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PART IV
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Dollar Figures from Different Times
We first return to the issue of Babe Ruth’s salary. Was his salary of $80,000 in 1931
high or low compared to the salaries of today’s players?
To answer this question, we need to know the level of prices in 1931 and the
level of prices today. Part of the increase in baseball salaries compensates players
for higher prices today. To compare Ruth’s salary to those of today’s players, we
need to inflate Ruth’s salary to turn 1931 dollars into today’s dollars.
The formula for turning dollar figures from year T into today’s dollars is the
following:
Amount in today’s dollars = Amount in year T dollars ×
Price level today
Price level in year T
.
A price index such as the consumer price index measures the price level and thus
determines the size of the inflation correction.
Let’s apply this formula to Ruth’s salary. Government statistics show a consumer price index of 15.2 for 1931 and 214.5 for 2009. Thus, the overall level of
prices has risen by a factor of 14.1 (which equals 214.5/15.2). We can use these
numbers to measure Ruth’s salary in 2009 dollars, as follows:
Salary in 2009 dollars = Salary in 1931 dollars ×
= $80,000 ×
Price level in 2009
Price level in 1931
214.5
15.2
= $1,128,947
We find that Babe Ruth’s 1931 salary is equivalent to a salary today of over $1
million. That is a good income, but it is less than a quarter of the median Yankee
salary today and only 3 percent of what the Yankees pay A-Rod. Various forces,
including overall economic growth and the increasing income shares earned by
superstars, have substantially raised the living standards of the best athletes.
Let’s also examine President Hoover’s 1931 salary of $75,000. To translate that
figure into 2009 dollars, we again multiply the ratio of the price levels in the two
years. We find that Hoover’s salary is equivalent to $75,000 × (214.5/15.2), or
$1,058,388, in 2009 dollars. This is well above President Barack Obama’s salary
of $400,000. It seems that President Hoover did have a pretty good year after all.
Indexation
indexation
the automatic correction
by law or contract of a
dollar amount for the
effects of inflation
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-024.indd 522
As we have just seen, price indexes are used to correct for the effects of inflation
when comparing dollar figures from different times. This type of correction shows
up in many places in the economy. When some dollar amount is automatically
corrected for changes in the price level by law or contract, the amount is said to
be indexed for inflation.
For example, many long-term contracts between firms and unions include partial or complete indexation of the wage to the consumer price index. Such a provision is called a cost-of-living allowance, or COLA. A COLA automatically raises the
wage when the consumer price index rises.
Indexation is also a feature of many laws. Social Security benefits, for example, are
adjusted every year to compensate the elderly for increases in prices. The brackets
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227
FYI
Mr. Index Goes to Hollywood
© ARCHIVES DU 7ÈME ART/PHOTOS 12/ALAMY
W
hat is the most popular movie of all
time? The answer might surprise you.
Movie popularity is usually gauged by
box office receipts. By that measure, Avatar
is the number 1 movie of all time with
domestic receipts of $749 million, followed
by Titanic ($601 million) and The Dark
Knight ($533 million). But this ranking
ignores an obvious but important fact:
Prices, including those of movie tickets,
have been rising over time. Inflation gives
an advantage to newer films.
When we correct box office receipts
for the effects of inflation, the story is very
“I see you don’t like the effects of
inflation.”
different. The number 1 movie is now Gone
with the Wind ($1,606 million), followed by
Star Wars ($1,416 million) and The Sound
of Music ($1,132 million). Avatar falls to
number 14.
Gone with the Wind was released in
1939, before everyone had televisions in
their homes. In the 1930s, about 90 million
Americans went to the cinema each week,
compared to about 25 million today. But the
movies from that era don’t show up in conventional popularity rankings because ticket
prices were only a quarter. And indeed, in the
ranking based on nominal box office receipts,
Gone with the Wind does not make the top
50 films. Scarlett and Rhett fare a lot better
once we correct for the effects of inflation.
of the federal income tax—the income levels at which the tax rates change—are also
indexed for inflation. There are, however, many ways in which the tax system is not
indexed for inflation, even when perhaps it should be. We discuss these issues more
fully when we discuss the costs of inflation later in this book.
Real and Nominal Interest Rates
Correcting economic variables for the effects of inflation is particularly important,
and somewhat tricky, when we look at data on interest rates. The very concept
of an interest rate necessarily involves comparing amounts of money at different
points in time. When you deposit your savings in a bank account, you give the
bank some money now, and the bank returns your deposit with interest in the
future. Similarly, when you borrow from a bank, you get some money now, but
you will have to repay the loan with interest in the future. In both cases, to fully
understand the deal between you and the bank, it is crucial to acknowledge that
future dollars could have a different value than today’s dollars. That is, you have
to correct for the effects of inflation.
Let’s consider an example. Suppose Sally Saver deposits $1,000 in a bank
account that pays an annual interest rate of 10 percent. A year later, after Sally has
accumulated $100 in interest, she withdraws her $1,100. Is Sally $100 richer than
she was when she made the deposit a year earlier?
The answer depends on what we mean by “richer.” Sally does have $100 more
than she had before. In other words, the number of dollars in her possession has
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PART IV
THE DATA OF MACROECONOMICS
risen by 10 percent. But Sally does not care about the amount of money itself:
She cares about what she can buy with it. If prices have risen while her money
was in the bank, each dollar now buys less than it did a year ago. In this case, her
purchasing power—the amount of goods and services she can buy—has not risen
by 10 percent.
To keep things simple, let’s suppose that Sally is a movie fan and buys
only DVDs. When Sally made her deposit, a DVD at her local movie store
cost $10. Her deposit of $1,000 was equivalent to 100 DVDs. A year later, after
getting her 10 percent interest, she has $1,100. How many DVDs can she buy
now? It depends on what has happened to the price of a DVD. Here are some
examples:
• Zero inflation: If the price of a DVD remains at $10, the amount she can buy
•
•
•
has risen from 100 to 110 DVDs. The 10 percent increase in the number of
dollars means a 10 percent increase in her purchasing power.
Six percent inflation: If the price of a DVD rises from $10 to $10.60, then the
number of DVDs she can buy has risen from 100 to approximately 104. Her
purchasing power has increased by about 4 percent.
Ten percent inflation: If the price of a DVD rises from $10 to $11, she can
still buy only 100 DVDs. Even though Sally’s dollar wealth has risen, her
purchasing power is the same as it was a year earlier.
Twelve percent inflation: If the price of a DVD increases from $10 to $11.20,
the number of DVDs she can buy has fallen from 100 to approximately
98. Even with her greater number of dollars, her purchasing power has
decreased by about 2 percent.
And if Sally were living in an economy with deflation—falling prices—another
possibility could arise:
• Two percent deflation: If the price of a DVD falls from $10 to $9.80, then the
number of DVDs she can buy rises from 100 to approximately 112. Her purchasing power increases by about 12 percent.
nominal interest
rate
the interest rate as usually
reported without a
correction for the effects
of inflation
real interest rate
the interest rate corrected
for the effects of inflation
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-024.indd 524
These examples show that the higher the rate of inflation, the smaller the increase
in Sally’s purchasing power. If the rate of inflation exceeds the rate of interest, her
purchasing power actually falls. And if there is deflation (that is, a negative rate
of inflation), her purchasing power rises by more than the rate of interest.
To understand how much a person earns in a savings account, we need to
consider both the interest rate and the change in the prices. The interest rate that
measures the change in dollar amounts is called the nominal interest rate, and
the interest rate corrected for inflation is called the real interest rate. The nominal interest rate, the real interest rate, and inflation are related approximately as
follows:
Real interest rate = Nominal interest rate – Inflation rate.
The real interest rate is the difference between the nominal interest rate and the
rate of inflation. The nominal interest rate tells you how fast the number of dollars
in your bank account rises over time, while the real interest rate tells you how fast
the purchasing power of your bank account rises over time.
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CHAPTER 11
Figure
Interest Rates
(percent
per year)
15%
229
3
Real and Nominal
Interest Rates
This figure shows nominal
and real interest rates
using annual data since
1965. The nominal
interest rate is the rate
on a 3-month Treasury
bill. The real interest rate
is the nominal interest
rate minus the inflation
rate as measured by the
consumer price index.
Notice that nominal and
real interest rates often
do not move together.
Nominal interest rate
10
5
0
Real interest rate
5
MEASURING THE COST OF LIVING
1965
1970
1975
1980
1985
1990
1995
2000
2005
2010
Source: U.S. Department of Labor;
U.S. Department of Treasury.
Interest Rates in the U.S. Economy
Figure 3 shows real and nominal interest rates in the U.S. economy since 1965. The
nominal interest rate in this figure is the rate on 3-month Treasury bills (although
data on other interest rates would be similar). The real interest rate is computed
by subtracting the rate of inflation from this nominal interest rate. Here the inflation rate is measured as the percentage change in the consumer price index.
One feature of this figure is that the nominal interest rate almost always exceeds
the real interest rate. This reflects the fact that the U.S. economy has experienced
rising consumer prices in almost every year during this period. By contrast, if you
look at data for the U.S. economy during the late 19th century or for the Japanese
economy in some recent years, you will find periods of deflation. During deflation, the real interest rate exceeds the nominal interest rate.
The figure also shows that because inflation is variable, real and nominal interest rates do not always move together. For example, in the late 1970s, nominal
interest rates were high. But because inflation was very high, real interest rates
were low. Indeed, during much of the 1970s, real interest rates were negative, for
inflation eroded people’s savings more quickly than nominal interest payments
increased them. By contrast, in the late 1990s, nominal interest rates were lower
than they had been two decades earlier. But because inflation was much lower,
real interest rates were higher. In the coming chapters, we will examine the economic forces that determine both real and nominal interest rates. Q
QUICK QUIZ Henry Ford paid his workers $5 a day in 1914. If the consumer price
index was 10 in 1914 and 218 in 2010, how much is the Ford paycheck worth in 2010
dollars?
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PART IV
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Conclusion
“A nickel ain’t worth a dime anymore,” baseball player Yogi Berra once observed.
Indeed, throughout recent history, the real values behind the nickel, the dime, and
the dollar have not been stable. Persistent increases in the overall level of prices
have been the norm. Such inflation reduces the purchasing power of each unit of
money over time. When comparing dollar figures from different times, it is important to keep in mind that a dollar today is not the same as a dollar twenty years
ago or, most likely, twenty years from now.
This chapter has discussed how economists measure the overall level of prices
in the economy and how they use price indexes to correct economic variables
for the effects of inflation. Price indexes allow us to compare dollar figures from
different points in time and, therefore, get a better sense of how the economy is
changing.
The discussion of price indexes in this chapter, together with the preceding
chapter’s discussion of GDP, is only a first step in the study of macroeconomics.
We have not yet examined what determines a nation’s GDP or the causes and
effects of inflation. To do that, we need to go beyond issues of measurement.
Indeed, that is our next task. Having explained how economists measure macroeconomic quantities and prices in the past two chapters, we are now ready to
develop the models that explain movements in these variables.
Here is our strategy in the upcoming chapters. First, we look at the long-run
determinants of real GDP and related variables, such as saving, investment, real
interest rates, and unemployment. Second, we look at the long-run determinants
of the price level and related variables, such as the money supply, inflation, and
nominal interest rates. Last of all, having seen how these variables are determined
in the long run, we examine the more complex question of what causes short-run
fluctuations in real GDP and the price level. In all of these chapters, the measurement issues we have just discussed will provide the foundation for the analysis.
SUMMAR Y
SUMMARY
• The consumer price index shows the cost of a
basket of goods and services relative to the cost
of the same basket in the base year. The index
is used to measure the overall level of prices
in the economy. The percentage change in the
consumer price index measures the inflation rate.
• The consumer price index is an imperfect
measure of the cost of living for three reasons.
First, it does not take into account consumers’
ability to substitute toward goods that become
relatively cheaper over time. Second, it does not
take into account increases in the purchasing
power of the dollar due to the introduction of
new goods. Third, it is distorted by unmeasured
changes in the quality of goods and services.
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-024.indd 526
Because of these measurement problems, the CPI
overstates true inflation.
• Like the consumer price index, the GDP deflator
measures the overall level of prices in the
economy. The two price indexes usually move
together, but there are important differences.
The GDP deflator differs from the CPI because
it includes goods and services produced rather
than goods and services consumed. As a result,
imported goods affect the consumer price index
but not the GDP deflator. In addition, while
the consumer price index uses a fixed basket of
goods, the GDP deflator automatically changes
the group of goods and services over time as the
composition of GDP changes.
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CHAPTER 11
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• Dollar figures from different times do not
• A correction for inflation is especially important
represent a valid comparison of purchasing
power. To compare a dollar figure from the past
to a dollar figure today, the older figure should
be inflated using a price index.
when looking at data on interest rates. The
nominal interest rate is the interest rate usually
reported; it is the rate at which the number
of dollars in a savings account increases over
time. By contrast, the real interest rate takes into
account changes in the value of the dollar over
time. The real interest rate equals the nominal
interest rate minus the rate of inflation.
• Various laws and private contracts use price
indexes to correct for the effects of inflation. The
tax laws, however, are only partially indexed for
inflation.
231
KEY CONC
C ONCEPTS
EPTS
consumer price index (CPI), p. 218
inflation rate, p. 220
producer price index, p. 221
indexation, p. 226
nominal interest rate, p. 228
real interest rate, p. 228
QUESTIONS FOR
FO R REVIEW
R EVIEW
1. Which do you think has a greater effect on the
consumer price index: a 10 percent increase in
the price of chicken or a 10 percent increase in
the price of caviar? Why?
2. Describe the three problems that make the
consumer price index an imperfect measure of
the cost of living.
3. If the price of a Navy submarine rises, is the
consumer price index or the GDP deflator
affected more? Why?
4. Over a long period of time, the price of a candy
bar rose from $0.10 to $0.60. Over the same
period, the consumer price index rose from 150
to 300. Adjusted for overall inflation, how much
did the price of the candy bar change?
5. Explain the meaning of nominal interest rate and
real interest rate. How are they related?
PROBLEMS
PRO
O B LEMS
S AND APPLICATIO
APPLICATIONS
C
O NS
S
1. Suppose that the year you were born someone
bought $100 of goods and services for your
baby shower. How much would you guess
it would cost today to buy a similar amount
of goods and services? Now find data on the
consumer price index and compute the answer
based on it. (You can find the BLS’s inflation
calculator here: http://www.bls.gov/data/
inflation_calculator.htm)
2. The residents of Vegopia spend all of
their income on cauliflower, broccoli, and
carrots. In 2010, they buy 100 heads of
cauliflower for $200, 50 bunches of broccoli
for $75, and 500 carrots for $50. In 2011,
they buy 75 heads of cauliflower for $225,
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-024.indd 527
80 bunches of broccoli for $120, and 500 carrots
for $100.
a. Calculate the price of each vegetable in each
year.
b. Using 2010 as the base year, calculate the CPI
for each year.
c. What is the inflation rate in 2011?
3. Suppose that people consume only three goods,
as shown in this table:
2011 price
2011 quantity
2012 price
2012 quantity
Tennis Balls
Golf Balls
Bottles of
Gatorade
$2
100
$2
100
$4
100
$6
100
$1
200
$2
200
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PART IV
THE DATA OF MACROECONOMICS
a. What is the percentage change in the price of
each of the three goods?
b. Using a method similar to the consumer price
index, compute the percentage change in the
overall price level.
c. If you were to learn that a bottle of Gatorade
increased in size from 2011 to 2012, should
that information affect your calculation of the
inflation rate? If so, how?
d. If you were to learn that Gatorade introduced
new flavors in 2012, should that information
affect your calculation of the inflation rate? If
so, how?
4. Go to the website of the Bureau of Labor
Statistics (http://www.bls.gov) and find data
on the consumer price index. By how much
has the index including all items risen over the
past year? For which categories of spending
have prices risen the most? The least? Have any
categories experienced price declines? Can you
explain any of these facts?
5. A small nation of ten people idolizes the TV
show American Idol. All they produce and
consume are karaoke machines and CDs, in the
following amounts:
Karaoke Machines
2011
2012
CDs
Quantity
Price
Quantity
Price
10
12
$40
60
30
50
$10
12
a. Using a method similar to the consumer price
index, compute the percentage change in the
overall price level. Use 2011 as the base year,
and fix the basket at 1 karaoke machine and
3 CDs.
b. Using a method similar to the GDP deflator,
compute the percentage change of the overall
price level. Also use 2011 as the base year.
c. Is the inflation rate in 2012 the same using
the two methods? Explain why or why not.
6. Which of the problems in the construction of
the CPI might be illustrated by each of the
following situations? Explain.
a. the invention of the iPod
b. the introduction of air bags in cars
c. increased personal computer purchases in
response to a decline in their price
d. more scoops of raisins in each package of
Raisin Bran
e. greater use of fuel-efficient cars after gasoline
prices increase
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-024.indd 528
7. The New York Times cost $0.15 in 1970
and $2.00 in 2009. The average wage in
manufacturing was $3.23 per hour in 1970 and
$20.42 in 2009.
a. By what percentage did the price of a
newspaper rise?
b. By what percentage did the wage rise?
c. In each year, how many minutes does a
worker have to work to earn enough to buy a
newspaper?
d. Did workers’ purchasing power in terms of
newspapers rise or fall?
8. The chapter explains that Social Security
benefits are increased each year in proportion
to the increase in the CPI, even though most
economists believe that the CPI overstates
actual inflation.
a. If the elderly consume the same market
basket as other people, does Social Security
provide the elderly with an improvement in
their standard of living each year? Explain.
b. In fact, the elderly consume more healthcare
compared to younger people, and healthcare
costs have risen faster than overall inflation.
What would you do to determine whether
the elderly are actually better off from year to
year?
9. When deciding how much of their income to
save for retirement, should workers consider
the real or the nominal interest rate that their
savings will earn? Explain.
10. Suppose that a borrower and a lender agree on
the nominal interest rate to be paid on a loan.
Then inflation turns out to be higher than they
both expected.
a. Is the real interest rate on this loan higher or
lower than expected?
b. Does the lender gain or lose from this
unexpectedly high inflation? Does the
borrower gain or lose?
c. Inflation during the 1970s was much
higher than most people had expected
when the decade began. How did this
affect homeowners who obtained fixed-rate
mortgages during the 1960s? How did it
affect the banks that lent the money?
For further information on topics in this chapter,
additional problems, applications, examples, online
quizzes, and more, please visit our website at www
.cengage.com/economics/mankiw.
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V
PART
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The Real Economy
in the Long Run
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Production and Growth
12
W
hen you travel around the world, you see tremendous variation in
the standard of living. The average income in a rich country, such
as the United States, Japan, or Germany, is more than ten times
the average income in a poor country, such as India, Indonesia, or
Nigeria. These large differences in income are reflected in large differences in
the quality of life. People in richer countries have better nutrition, safer housing,
better healthcare, and longer life expectancy as well as more automobiles, more
telephones, and more televisions.
Even within a country, there are large changes in the standard of living over
time. In the United States over the past century, average income as measured by real
GDP per person has grown by about 2 percent per year. Although 2 percent might
seem small, this rate of growth implies that average income doubles every 35 years.
Because of this growth, average income today is about eight times the average income
a century ago. As a result, the typical American enjoys much greater economic prosperity than did his or her parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents.
235
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PART V
THE REAL ECONOMY IN THE LONG RUN
Growth rates vary substantially from country to country. In recent history, some
East Asian countries, such as Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan, have experienced
economic growth of about 7 percent per year; at this rate, average income doubles
every 10 years. Over the past two decades, China has enjoyed an even higher rate of
growth—about 12 percent per year, according to some estimates. A country experiencing such rapid growth can, in one generation, go from being among the poorest
in the world to being among the richest. By contrast, in some African countries, such
as Chad, Gabon, and Senegal, average income has been stagnant for many years.
What explains these diverse experiences? How can rich countries maintain their
high standard of living? What policies should poor countries pursue to promote more
rapid growth and join the developed world? These are among the most important
questions in macroeconomics. As the Nobel-Prize-winning economist Robert Lucas
put it, “The consequences for human welfare in questions like these are simply staggering: Once one starts to think about them, it is hard to think about anything else.”
In the previous two chapters, we discussed how economists measure macroeconomic quantities and prices. We can now begin to study the forces that determine these variables. As we have seen, an economy’s gross domestic product
(GDP) measures both the total income earned in the economy and the total expenditure on the economy’s output of goods and services. The level of real GDP is a
good gauge of economic prosperity, and the growth of real GDP is a good gauge
of economic progress. In this chapter we focus on the long-run determinants of
the level and growth of real GDP. Later in this book, we study the short-run fluctuations of real GDP around its long-run trend.
We proceed here in three steps. First, we examine international data on real
GDP per person. These data will give you some sense of how much the level and
growth of living standards vary around the world. Second, we examine the role
of productivity—the amount of goods and services produced for each hour of a
worker’s time. In particular, we see that a nation’s standard of living is determined
by the productivity of its workers, and we consider the factors that determine a
nation’s productivity. Third, we consider the link between productivity and the
economic policies that a nation pursues.
Economic Growth around the World
As a starting point for our study of long-run growth, let’s look at the experiences
of some of the world’s economies. Table 1 shows data on real GDP per person for
thirteen countries. For each country, the data cover more than a century of history.
The first and second columns of the table present the countries and time periods.
(The time periods differ somewhat from country to country because of differences
in data availability.) The third and fourth columns show estimates of real GDP per
person about a century ago and for a recent year.
The data on real GDP per person show that living standards vary widely from
country to country. Income per person in the United States, for instance, is about
eight times that in China and about sixteen times that in India. The poorest countries have average levels of income not seen in the developed world for many
decades. The typical citizen of India in 2008 had less real income than the typical
resident of England in 1870. The typical person in Bangladesh in 2008 had about
two-thirds the real income of a typical American a century ago.
The last column of the table shows each country’s growth rate. The growth rate
measures how rapidly real GDP per person grew in the typical year. In the United
States, for example, where real GDP per person was $4,007 in 1870 and $46,970 in
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Country
Japan
Brazil
Mexico
Germany
Canada
China
United States
Argentina
United Kingdom
India
Indonesia
Pakistan
Bangladesh
Period
Real GDP per
Person at Beginning
of Period*
Real GDP per
Person at End
of Period*
1890–2008
1900–2008
1900–2008
1870–2008
1870–2008
1900–2008
1870–2008
1900–2008
1870–2008
1900–2008
1900–2008
1900–2008
1900–2008
$1,504
779
1,159
2,184
2,375
716
4,007
2,293
4,808
675
891
737
623
$35,220
10,070
14,270
35,940
36,220
6,020
46,970
14,020
36,130
2,960
3,830
2,700
1,440
PRODUCTION AND GROWTH
Table
Growth Rate
(per year)
237
1
The Variety of Growth
Experiences
2.71%
2.40
2.35
2.05
1.99
1.99
1.80
1.69
1.47
1.38
1.36
1.21
0.78
*
Real GDP is measured in 2008 dollars.
Source: Robert J. Barro and Xavier Sala-i-Martin, Economic Growth (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1995), tables 10.2 and 10.3;
World Development Report 2010, Table 1; and author’s calculations.
2008, the growth rate was 1.80 percent per year. This means that if real GDP per
person, beginning at $4,007, were to increase by 1.80 percent for each of 138 years,
it would end up at $46,970. Of course, real GDP per person did not actually rise
exactly 1.80 percent every year: Some years it rose by more, other years it rose by
less, and in still other years it fell. The growth rate of 1.80 percent per year ignores
short-run fluctuations around the long-run trend and represents an average rate
of growth for real GDP per person over many years.
The countries in Table 1 are ordered by their growth rate from the most to
the least rapid. Japan tops the list, with a growth rate of 2.71 percent per year.
A hundred years ago, Japan was not a rich country. Japan’s average income was
only somewhat higher than Mexico’s, and it was well behind Argentina’s. The
standard of living in Japan in 1890 was less than half of that in India today. But
because of its spectacular growth, Japan is now an economic superpower, with
average income more than twice that of Mexico and Argentina and similar to
Germany, Canada, and the United Kingdom. At the bottom of the list of countries
are Pakistan and Bangladesh, which have experienced growth of less than 1.3
percent per year over the past century. As a result, the typical resident of these
countries continues to live in abject poverty.
Because of differences in growth rates, the ranking of countries by income
changes substantially over time. As we have seen, Japan is a country that has
risen relative to others. One country that has fallen behind is the United Kingdom.
In 1870, the United Kingdom was the richest country in the world, with average
income about 20 percent higher than that of the United States and more than twice
Canada’s. Today, average income in the United Kingdom is 20 percent below that
of the United States and similar to Canada’s.
These data show that the world’s richest countries have no guarantee they will stay
the richest and that the world’s poorest countries are not doomed forever to remain
in poverty. But what explains these changes over time? Why do some countries zoom
ahead while others lag behind? These are precisely the questions that we take up next.
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FYI
A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Statistics
G
eorge Bernard Shaw once said, “The sign of a truly educated
man is to be deeply moved by statistics.” Most of us, however,
have trouble being deeply moved by data on GDP—until we see
what these statistics represent.
The three photos on these pages show a typical family from each
of three countries—the United Kingdom, Mexico, and Mali. Each
family was photographed outside their home, together with all their
material possessions.
These nations have very different standards of living, as judged
by these photos, GDP, or other statistics.
The United Kingdom is an advanced economy. In 2008, its GDP
per person was $36,130. A negligible share of the population
lives in extreme poverty, defined here as less than $2 a day.
Educational attainment is high: Among children of high school
age, 91 percent are in school. Residents of the United Kingdom
can expect to enjoy a long life: The probability of a person
Economists who study economic growth try to understand what
causes such large differences in the standard of living.
© DAVID REED – FROM MATERIAL WORLD
•
surviving to age 65 is 85 percent for men and 91 percent for
women.
• Mexico is a middle-income country. In 2008, its GDP per
person was $14,270. About 5 percent of the population lives
on less than $2 a day. Among children of high school age,
71 percent are in school. The probability of a person surviving to
age 65 is 78 percent for men and 86 percent for women.
• Mali is a poor country. In 2008, its GDP per person was only
$1,090. Extreme poverty is the norm: More than three-quarters
of the population lives on less than $2 per day. Educational
attainment in Mali is low: Among children of high school age,
only 29 percent are in school. And life is often cut short: The
probability of a person surviving to age 65 is only 38 percent for
men and 42 percent for women.
A Typical Family in the United Kingdom
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239
© 2005 PETER MENZEL/MENZELPHOTO.COM
CHAPTER 12
© 2005 PETER MENZEL/MENZELPHOTO.COM
A Typical Family in Mexico
A Typical Family in Mali
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PART V
THE REAL ECONOMY IN THE LONG RUN
FYI
Are You Richer Than the Richest
American?
© AP PHOTOS
A
Now consider: How much money would someone have to pay
merican Heritage magazine once published a list of the richest
Americans of all time. The number 1 spot went to John D. you to give up for the rest of your life all the modern conveniences
Rockefeller, the oil entrepreneur who lived from 1839 to 1937. that Rockefeller lived without? Would you do it for $200 billion?
According to the magazine’s calculations, his wealth would today be Perhaps not. And if you wouldn’t, is it fair to say that you are better
the equivalent of about $200 billion, almost four times that of Bill off than John D. Rockefeller, allegedly the richest American ever?
The preceding chapter discussed how standard price indexes,
Gates, the software entrepreneur who is today’s richest American.
Despite his great wealth, Rockefeller did not enjoy many of the which are used to compare sums of money from different points
in time, fail to fully reflect the introduction of new
conveniences that we now take for granted. He
goods in the economy. As a result, the rate of inflacouldn’t watch television, play video games, surf
tion is overestimated. The flip side of this observathe Internet, or send e-mail. During the heat of
tion is that the rate of real economic growth is
summer, he couldn’t cool his home with air condiunderestimated. Pondering Rockefeller’s life shows
tioning. For much of his life, he couldn’t travel by
how significant this problem might be. Because of
car or plane, and he couldn’t use a telephone to
tremendous technological advances, the average
call friends or family. If he became ill, he couldn’t
American today is arguably “richer” than the richest
take advantage of many medicines, such as antiAmerican a century ago, even if that fact is lost in
biotics, that doctors today routinely use to prolong
standard economic statistics.
and enhance life.
John D. Rockefeller
QUICK QUIZ What is the approximate growth rate of real GDP per person in the
United States? Name a country that has had faster growth and a country that has had
slower growth.
Productivity: Its Role and Determinants
Explaining the large variation in living standards around the world is, in one
sense, very easy. As we will see, the explanation can be summarized in a single
word—productivity. But in another sense, the international variation is deeply
puzzling. To explain why incomes are so much higher in some countries than in
others, we must look at the many factors that determine a nation’s productivity.
Why Productivity Is So Important
Let’s begin our study of productivity and economic growth by developing a
simple model based loosely on Daniel Defoe’s famous novel Robinson Crusoe
about a sailor stranded on a desert island. Because Crusoe lives alone, he catches
his own fish, grows his own vegetables, and makes his own clothes. We can think
of Crusoe’s activities—his production and consumption of fish, vegetables, and
clothing—as a simple economy. By examining Crusoe’s economy, we can learn
some lessons that also apply to more complex and realistic economies.
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What determines Crusoe’s standard of living? In a word, productivity, the
quantity of goods and services produced from each unit of labor input. If Crusoe
is good at catching fish, growing vegetables, and making clothes, he lives well. If
he is bad at doing these things, he lives poorly. Because Crusoe gets to consume
only what he produces, his living standard is tied to his productivity.
In the case of Crusoe’s economy, it is easy to see that productivity is the key determinant of living standards and that growth in productivity is the key determinant
of growth in living standards. The more fish Crusoe can catch per hour, the more
he eats at dinner. If Crusoe finds a better place to catch fish, his productivity rises.
This increase in productivity makes Crusoe better off: He can eat the extra fish, or he
can spend less time fishing and devote more time to making other goods he enjoys.
Productivity’s key role in determining living standards is as true for nations as
it is for stranded sailors. Recall that an economy’s gross domestic product (GDP)
measures two things at once: the total income earned by everyone in the economy
and the total expenditure on the economy’s output of goods and services. GDP can
measure these two things simultaneously because, for the economy as a whole,
they must be equal. Put simply, an economy’s income is the economy’s output.
Like Crusoe, a nation can enjoy a high standard of living only if it can produce
a large quantity of goods and services. Americans live better than Nigerians
because American workers are more productive than Nigerian workers. The
Japanese have enjoyed more rapid growth in living standards than Argentineans
because Japanese workers have experienced more rapid growth in productivity.
Indeed, one of the Ten Principles of Economics in Chapter 1 is that a country’s standard of living depends on its ability to produce goods and services.
Hence, to understand the large differences in living standards we observe
across countries or over time, we must focus on the production of goods and
services. But seeing the link between living standards and productivity is only
the first step. It leads naturally to the next question: Why are some economies so
much better at producing goods and services than others?
PRODUCTION AND GROWTH
241
productivity
the quantity of goods and
services produced from
each unit of labor input
How Productivity Is Determined
Although productivity is uniquely important in determining Robinson Crusoe’s
standard of living, many factors determine Crusoe’s productivity. Crusoe will
be better at catching fish, for instance, if he has more fishing poles, if he has
been trained in the best fishing techniques, if his island has a plentiful fish supply, or if he invents a better fishing lure. Each of these determinants of Crusoe’s
productivity—which we can call physical capital, human capital, natural resources,
and technological knowledge—has a counterpart in more complex and realistic
economies. Let’s consider each factor in turn.
Physical Capital per Worker Workers are more productive if they have
tools with which to work. The stock of equipment and structures used to produce
goods and services is called physical capital, or just capital. For example, when
woodworkers make furniture, they use saws, lathes, and drill presses. More tools
allow the woodworkers to produce their output more quickly and more accurately:
A worker with only basic hand tools can make less furniture each week than a
worker with sophisticated and specialized woodworking equipment.
As you may recall, the inputs used to produce goods and services—labor, capital, and so on—are called the factors of production. An important feature of capital
is that it is a produced factor of production. That is, capital is an input into the production process that in the past was an output from the production process. The
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-025.indd 537
physical capital
the stock of equipment
and structures that are
used to produce goods
and services
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THE REAL ECONOMY IN THE LONG RUN
woodworker uses a lathe to make the leg of a table. Earlier, the lathe itself was the
output of a firm that manufactures lathes. The lathe manufacturer in turn used
other equipment to make its product. Thus, capital is a factor of production used
to produce all kinds of goods and services, including more capital.
human capital
the knowledge and skills
that workers acquire
through education,
training, and experience
natural resources
the inputs into the
production of goods and
services that are provided
by nature, such as land,
rivers, and mineral
deposits
technological
knowledge
society’s understanding of
the best ways to produce
goods and services
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-025.indd 538
Human Capital per Worker A second determinant of productivity is human
capital. Human capital is the economist’s term for the knowledge and skills that
workers acquire through education, training, and experience. Human capital
includes the skills accumulated in early childhood programs, grade school, high
school, college, and on-the-job training for adults in the labor force.
Education, training, and experience are less tangible than lathes, bulldozers, and
buildings, but human capital is like physical capital in many ways. Like physical
capital, human capital raises a nation’s ability to produce goods and services. Also
like physical capital, human capital is a produced factor of production. Producing
human capital requires inputs in the form of teachers, libraries, and student time.
Indeed, students can be viewed as “workers” who have the important job of producing the human capital that will be used in future production.
Natural Resources per Worker A third determinant of productivity is
natural resources. Natural resources are inputs into production that are provided
by nature, such as land, rivers, and mineral deposits. Natural resources take
two forms: renewable and nonrenewable. A forest is an example of a renewable
resource. When one tree is cut down, a seedling can be planted in its place to be
harvested in the future. Oil is an example of a nonrenewable resource. Because oil
is produced by nature over many millions of years, there is only a limited supply.
Once the supply of oil is depleted, it is impossible to create more.
Differences in natural resources are responsible for some of the differences in
standards of living around the world. The historical success of the United States was
driven in part by the large supply of land well suited for agriculture. Today, some
countries in the Middle East, such as Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, are rich simply
because they happen to be on top of some of the largest pools of oil in the world.
Although natural resources can be important, they are not necessary for an
economy to be highly productive in producing goods and services. Japan, for
instance, is one of the richest countries in the world, despite having few natural
resources. International trade makes Japan’s success possible. Japan imports
many of the natural resources it needs, such as oil, and exports its manufactured
goods to economies rich in natural resources.
Technological Knowledge A fourth determinant of productivity is
technological knowledge—the understanding of the best ways to produce goods
and services. A hundred years ago, most Americans worked on farms because
farm technology required a high input of labor to feed the entire population.
Today, thanks to advances in farming technology, a small fraction of the population can produce enough food to feed the entire country. This technological
change made labor available to produce other goods and services.
Technological knowledge takes many forms. Some technology is common
knowledge—after one person uses it, everyone becomes aware of it. For example,
once Henry Ford successfully introduced production in assembly lines, other
carmakers quickly followed suit. Other technology is proprietary—it is known
only by the company that discovers it. Only the Coca-Cola Company, for instance,
knows the secret recipe for making its famous soft drink. Still other technology
is proprietary for a short time. When a pharmaceutical company discovers a new
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PRODUCTION AND GROWTH
243
FYI
The Production Function
E
conomists often use a production function to describe the relationship between the quantity of inputs used in production and
the quantity of output from production. For example, suppose Y
denotes the quantity of output, L the quantity of labor, K the quantity of physical capital, H the quantity of human capital, and N the
quantity of natural resources. Then we might write
Y = A F(L, K, H, N),
where F ( ) is a function that shows how the inputs are combined to
produce output. A is a variable that reflects the available production
technology. As technology improves, A rises, so the economy produces more output from any given combination of inputs.
Many production functions have a property called constant
returns to scale. If a production function has constant returns to
scale, then doubling all inputs causes the amount of output to
double as well. Mathematically, we write that a production function
has constant returns to scale if, for any positive number x,
A doubling of all inputs would be represented in this equation by
x = 2. The right side shows the inputs doubling, and the left side
shows output doubling.
Production functions with constant returns to scale have an
interesting and useful implication. To see this implication, it will
prove instructive to set x = 1/L. Then the preceding equation
becomes
Y/L = A F(1, K/L, H/L, N/L).
Notice that Y/L is output per worker, which is a measure of productivity. This equation says that labor productivity depends on physical
capital per worker (K/L), human capital per worker (H/L), and natural
resources per worker (N/L). Productivity also depends on the state
of technology, as reflected by the variable A. Thus, this equation
provides a mathematical summary of the four determinants of productivity we have just discussed.
xY = A F(xL, xK, xH, xN).
drug, the patent system gives that company a temporary right to be its exclusive
manufacturer. When the patent expires, however, other companies are allowed to
make the drug. All these forms of technological knowledge are important for the
economy’s production of goods and services.
It is worthwhile to distinguish between technological knowledge and human
capital. Although they are closely related, there is an important difference.
Technological knowledge refers to society’s understanding about how the world
works. Human capital refers to the resources expended transmitting this understanding to the labor force. To use a relevant metaphor, knowledge is the quality of society’s textbooks, whereas human capital is the amount of time that the
population has devoted to reading them. Workers’ productivity depends on both.
Are Natural Resources a Limit to Growth?
Today, the world’s population is almost 7 billion, more than four times what it
was a century ago. At the same time, many people are enjoying a much higher
standard of living than did their great-grandparents. A perennial debate concerns
whether this growth in population and living standards can continue in the future.
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THE REAL ECONOMY IN THE LONG RUN
Many commentators have argued that natural resources will eventually limit
how much the world’s economies can grow. At first, this argument might seem
hard to ignore. If the world has only a fixed supply of nonrenewable natural
resources, how can population, production, and living standards continue to
grow over time? Eventually, won’t supplies of oil and minerals start to run out?
When these shortages start to occur, won’t they stop economic growth and, perhaps, even force living standards to fall?
Despite the apparent appeal of such arguments, most economists are less concerned about such limits to growth than one might guess. They argue that technological progress often yields ways to avoid these limits. If we compare the economy
today to the economy of the past, we see various ways in which the use of natural
resources has improved. Modern cars have better gas mileage. New houses have
better insulation and require less energy to heat and cool them. More efficient oil
rigs waste less oil in the process of extraction. Recycling allows some nonrenewable
resources to be reused. The development of alternative fuels, such as ethanol instead
of gasoline, allows us to substitute renewable for nonrenewable resources.
Sixty years ago, some conservationists were concerned about the excessive use
of tin and copper. At the time, these were crucial commodities: Tin was used to
make many food containers, and copper was used to make telephone wire. Some
people advocated mandatory recycling and rationing of tin and copper so that
supplies would be available for future generations. Today, however, plastic has
replaced tin as a material for making many food containers, and phone calls often
travel over fiber-optic cables, which are made from sand. Technological progress
has made once crucial natural resources less necessary.
But are all these efforts enough to permit continued economic growth? One
way to answer this question is to look at the prices of natural resources. In a
market economy, scarcity is reflected in market prices. If the world were running
out of natural resources, then the prices of those resources would be rising over
time. But in fact, the opposite is more often true. Natural resource prices exhibit
substantial short-run fluctuations, but over long spans of time, the prices of most
natural resources (adjusted for overall inflation) are stable or falling. It appears
that our ability to conserve these resources is growing more rapidly than their
supplies are dwindling. Market prices give no reason to believe that natural
resources are a limit to economic growth. ■
QUICK QUIZ List and describe four determinants of a country’s productivity.
Economic Growth and Public Policy
So far, we have determined that a society’s standard of living depends on its
ability to produce goods and services and that its productivity in turn depends
on physical capital per worker, human capital per worker, natural resources per
worker, and technological knowledge. Let’s now turn to the question faced by
policymakers around the world: What can government policy do to raise productivity and living standards?
Saving and Investment
Because capital is a produced factor of production, a society can change the
amount of capital it has. If today the economy produces a large quantity of new
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245
capital goods, then tomorrow it will have a larger stock of capital and be able to
produce more goods and services. Thus, one way to raise future productivity is to
invest more current resources in the production of capital.
One of the Ten Principles of Economics presented in Chapter 1 is that people face
trade-offs. This principle is especially important when considering the accumulation of capital. Because resources are scarce, devoting more resources to producing capital requires devoting fewer resources to producing goods and services for
current consumption. That is, for society to invest more in capital, it must consume less and save more of its current income. The growth that arises from capital
accumulation is not a free lunch: It requires that society sacrifice consumption of
goods and services in the present to enjoy higher consumption in the future.
The next chapter examines in more detail how the economy’s financial markets
coordinate saving and investment. It also examines how government policies
influence the amount of saving and investment that takes place. At this point,
it is important to note that encouraging saving and investment is one way that
a government can encourage growth and, in the long run, raise the economy’s
standard of living.
Diminishing Returns and the Catch-Up Effect
Suppose that a government pursues policies that raise the nation’s saving
rate—the percentage of GDP devoted to saving rather than consumption. What
happens? With the nation saving more, fewer resources are needed to make consumption goods, and more resources are available to make capital goods. As a
result, the capital stock increases, leading to rising productivity and more rapid
growth in GDP. But how long does this higher rate of growth last? Assuming that
the saving rate remains at its new higher level, does the growth rate of GDP stay
high indefinitely or only for a period of time?
The traditional view of the production process is that capital is subject to
diminishing returns: As the stock of capital rises, the extra output produced from
an additional unit of capital falls. In other words, when workers already have a
large quantity of capital to use in producing goods and services, giving them an
additional unit of capital increases their productivity only slightly. This is illustrated in Figure 1, which shows how the amount of capital per worker determines
the amount of output per worker, holding constant all the other determinants of
output.
Because of diminishing returns, an increase in the saving rate leads to higher
growth only for a while. As the higher saving rate allows more capital to be accumulated, the benefits from additional capital become smaller over time, and so
growth slows down. In the long run, the higher saving rate leads to a higher level of
productivity and income but not to higher growth in these variables. Reaching this long
run, however, can take quite a while. According to studies of international data
on economic growth, increasing the saving rate can lead to substantially higher
growth for a period of several decades.
The diminishing returns to capital has another important implication: Other
things equal, it is easier for a country to grow fast if it starts out relatively poor.
This effect of initial conditions on subsequent growth is sometimes called the
catch-up effect. In poor countries, workers lack even the most rudimentary tools
and, as a result, have low productivity. Small amounts of capital investment
would substantially raise these workers’ productivity. By contrast, workers in
rich countries have large amounts of capital with which to work, and this partly
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-025.indd 541
diminishing returns
the property whereby the
benefit from an extra unit
of an input declines as
the quantity of the input
increases
catch-up effect
the property whereby
countries that start off
poor tend to grow more
rapidly than countries that
start off rich
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PART V
Figure
THE REAL ECONOMY IN THE LONG RUN
1
Output
per Worker
Illustrating the Production
Function
1
This figure shows how
the amount of capital
per worker influences the
amount of output per
worker. Other determinants
of output, including human
capital, natural resources,
and technology, are held
constant. The curve becomes
flatter as the amount of
capital increases because
of diminishing returns to
capital.
2. When the economy has a high
level of capital, an extra unit of
capital leads to a small increase
in output.
1. When the economy has a low level of capital, an extra unit
of capital leads to a large increase in output.
1
Capital per
Worker
explains their high productivity. Yet with the amount of capital per worker
already so high, additional capital investment has a relatively small effect on productivity. Studies of international data on economic growth confirm this catch-up
effect: Controlling for other variables, such as the percentage of GDP devoted to
investment, poor countries tend to grow at faster rates than rich countries.
This catch-up effect can help explain some otherwise puzzling facts. Here’s an
example: From 1960 to 1990, the United States and South Korea devoted a similar
share of GDP to investment. Yet over this time, the United States experienced
only mediocre growth of about 2 percent, while South Korea experienced spectacular growth of more than 6 percent. The explanation is the catch-up effect. In
1960, South Korea had GDP per person less than one-tenth the U.S. level, in part
because previous investment had been so low. With a small initial capital stock,
the benefits to capital accumulation were much greater in South Korea, and this
gave South Korea a higher subsequent growth rate.
This catch-up effect shows up in other aspects of life. When a school gives an
end-of-year award to the “Most Improved” student, that student is usually one
who began the year with relatively poor performance. Students who began the
year not studying find improvement easier than students who always worked
hard. Note that it is good to be “Most Improved,” given the starting point, but it is
even better to be “Best Student.” Similarly, economic growth over the last several
decades has been much more rapid in South Korea than in the United States, but
GDP per person is still higher in the United States.
Investment from Abroad
So far, we have discussed how policies aimed at increasing a country’s saving rate
can increase investment and, thereby, long-term economic growth. Yet saving by
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domestic residents is not the only way for a country to invest in new capital. The
other way is investment by foreigners.
Investment from abroad takes several forms. Ford Motor Company might
build a car factory in Mexico. A capital investment that is owned and operated
by a foreign entity is called foreign direct investment. Alternatively, an American
might buy stock in a Mexican corporation (that is, buy a share in the ownership
of the corporation); the Mexican corporation can use the proceeds from the stock
sale to build a new factory. An investment that is financed with foreign money
but operated by domestic residents is called foreign portfolio investment. In both
cases, Americans provide the resources necessary to increase the stock of capital
in Mexico. That is, American saving is being used to finance Mexican investment.
When foreigners invest in a country, they do so because they expect to earn a
return on their investment. Ford’s car factory increases the Mexican capital stock
and, therefore, increases Mexican productivity and Mexican GDP. Yet Ford takes
some of this additional income back to the United States in the form of profit.
Similarly, when an American investor buys Mexican stock, the investor has a right
to a portion of the profit that the Mexican corporation earns.
Investment from abroad, therefore, does not have the same effect on all measures of economic prosperity. Recall that gross domestic product (GDP) is the
income earned within a country by both residents and nonresidents, whereas
gross national product (GNP) is the income earned by residents of a country both
at home and abroad. When Ford opens its car factory in Mexico, some of the
income the factory generates accrues to people who do not live in Mexico. As a
result, foreign investment in Mexico raises the income of Mexicans (measured by
GNP) by less than it raises the production in Mexico (measured by GDP).
Nonetheless, investment from abroad is one way for a country to grow. Even
though some of the benefits from this investment flow back to the foreign owners,
this investment does increase the economy’s stock of capital, leading to higher
productivity and higher wages. Moreover, investment from abroad is one way
for poor countries to learn the state-of-the-art technologies developed and used
in richer countries. For these reasons, many economists who advise governments
in less developed economies advocate policies that encourage investment from
abroad. Often, this means removing restrictions that governments have imposed
on foreign ownership of domestic capital.
An organization that tries to encourage the flow of capital to poor countries is
the World Bank. This international organization obtains funds from the world’s
advanced countries, such as the United States, and uses these resources to make
loans to less developed countries so that they can invest in roads, sewer systems,
schools, and other types of capital. It also offers the countries advice about how
the funds might best be used. The World Bank, together with its sister organization, the International Monetary Fund, was set up after World War II. One
lesson from the war was that economic distress often leads to political turmoil,
international tensions, and military conflict. Thus, every country has an interest
in promoting economic prosperity around the world. The World Bank and the
International Monetary Fund were established to achieve that common goal.
Education
Education—investment in human capital—is at least as important as investment
in physical capital for a country’s long-run economic success. In the United States,
each year of schooling has historically raised a person’s wage by an average of
about 10 percent. In less developed countries, where human capital is especially
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scarce, the gap between the wages of educated and uneducated workers is even
larger. Thus, one way government policy can enhance the standard of living is to
provide good schools and to encourage the population to take advantage of them.
Investment in human capital, like investment in physical capital, has an opportunity cost. When students are in school, they forgo the wages they could have
earned as members of the labor force. In less developed countries, children often
drop out of school at an early age, even though the benefit of additional schooling is very high, simply because their labor is needed to help support the family.
Some economists have argued that human capital is particularly important
for economic growth because human capital conveys positive externalities. An
externality is the effect of one person’s actions on the well-being of a bystander.
An educated person, for instance, might generate new ideas about how best to
produce goods and services. If these ideas enter society’s pool of knowledge so
that everyone can use them, then the ideas are an external benefit of education.
In this case, the return to schooling for society is even greater than the return for
the individual. This argument would justify the large subsidies to human-capital
investment that we observe in the form of public education.
One problem facing some poor countries is the brain drain—the emigration of
many of the most highly educated workers to rich countries, where these workers can enjoy a higher standard of living. If human capital does have positive
externalities, then this brain drain makes those people left behind poorer than
they otherwise would be. This problem offers policymakers a dilemma. On the
one hand, the United States and other rich countries have the best systems of
higher education, and it would seem natural for poor countries to send their best
students abroad to earn higher degrees. On the other hand, those students who
have spent time abroad may choose not to return home, and this brain drain will
reduce the poor nation’s stock of human capital even further.
Health and Nutrition
The term human capital usually refers to education, but it can also be used to
describe another type of investment in people: expenditures that lead to a healthier population. Other things equal, healthier workers are more productive. The
right investments in the health of the population provide one way for a nation to
increase productivity and raise living standards.
Economic historian Robert Fogel has suggested that a significant factor in
long-run economic growth is improved health from better nutrition. He estimates
that in Great Britain in 1780, about one in five people were so malnourished that
they were incapable of manual labor. Among those who could work, insufficient
caloric intake substantially reduced the work effort they could put forth. As nutrition improved, so did workers’ productivity.
Fogel studies these historical trends in part by looking at the height of the
population. Short stature can be an indicator of malnutrition, especially during
gestation and the early years of life. Fogel finds that as nations develop economically, people eat more, and the population gets taller. From 1775 to 1975,
the average caloric intake in Great Britain rose by 26 percent, and the height of
the average man rose by 3.6 inches. Similarly, during the spectacular economic
growth in South Korea from 1962 to 1995, caloric consumption rose by 44 percent,
and average male height rose by 2 inches. Of course, a person’s height is determined by a combination of genetic predisposition and environment. But because
the genetic makeup of a population is slow to change, such increases in average
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in the news
Promoting Human Capital
Because human capital is a key to economic growth, some developing
countries give parents an immediate financial incentive to keep their
children in school.
Brazil Pays Parents to
Help Poor Be Pupils,
Not Wage Earners
BY CELIA W. DUGGER
© JOHN MAIER, JR./THE IMAGE WORKS
V
andelson Andrade, 13, often used to
skip school to work 12-hour days on the
small, graceful fishing boats that sail from
the picturesque harbor here. His meager
earnings helped pay for rice and beans for
his desperately poor family.
But this year he qualified for a small
monthly cash payment from the government
that his mother receives on the condition
that he shows up in the classroom.
“I can’t skip school anymore,” said
Vandelson, whose hand-me-down pants
were so big that the crotch ended at his
knees and the legs bunched up around his
ankles. “If I miss one more day, my mother
won’t get the money.”
This year, Vandelson will finally pass the
fourth grade on his third try—a small victory
Vandelson Andrade, student
in a new breed of social program that is
spreading swiftly across Latin America. It is a
developing-country version of American welfare reform: to break the cycle of poverty, the
government gives the poor small cash payments in exchange for keeping their children
in school and taking them for regular medical
checkups.
“I think these programs are as close as you
can come to a magic bullet in development,”
said Nancy Birdsall, president of the Center
for Global Development, a nonprofit research
group in Washington. “They’re creating an
incentive for families to invest in their own
children’s futures. Every decade or so, we see
something that can really make a difference,
and this is one of those things.” . . .
Antônio Souza, 48, and Maria Torres,
37, are raising seven children in a mud hut
a couple of hills away from Ms. Andrade.
Every member of the family is sinewy and
lean. The parents cannot remember the last
time the family ate meat or vegetables. But
their grant of $27 a month makes it possible
to buy rice, sugar, pasta and oil.
Mr. Souza and Ms. Torres, illiterate
believers in the power of education, have
always sent their children to school. “If they
don’t study, they’ll turn into dummies like
me,” said their father, whose weathered,
deeply creased face broke into a wide smile
as he surveyed his bright-eyed daughters,
Ana Paula, 11, and Daniele, 8, among them.
“All I can do is work in the fields.”
His wife said proudly: “There are fathers
who don’t want their children to go to
school. But this man here has done everything he could to send his children to school.”
Source: New York Times, January 3, 2004.
height are most likely due to changes in the environment—nutrition being the
obvious explanation.
Moreover, studies have found that height is an indicator of productivity.
Looking at data on a large number of workers at a point in time, researchers have
found that taller workers tend to earn more. Because wages reflect a worker’s
productivity, this finding suggests that taller workers tend to be more productive.
The effect of height on wages is especially pronounced in poorer countries, where
malnutrition is a bigger risk.
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Fogel won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1993 for his work in economic
history, which includes not only his studies of nutrition but also his studies of
American slavery and the role of railroads in the development of the American
economy. In the lecture he gave when he was awarded the prize, he surveyed the
evidence on health and economic growth. He concluded that “improved gross
nutrition accounts for roughly 30 percent of the growth of per capita income in
Britain between 1790 and 1980.”
Today, malnutrition is fortunately rare in developed nations such as Great
Britain and the United States. (Obesity is a more widespread problem.) But for people in developing nations, poor health and inadequate nutrition remain obstacles to
higher productivity and improved living standards. The United Nations estimates
that almost a third of the population in sub-Saharan Africa is undernourished.
The causal link between health and wealth runs in both directions. Poor countries are poor in part because their populations are not healthy, and their populations are not healthy in part because they are poor and cannot afford adequate
healthcare and nutrition. It is a vicious circle. But this fact opens the possibility of a
virtuous circle: Policies that lead to more rapid economic growth would naturally
improve health outcomes, which in turn would further promote economic growth.
Property Rights and Political Stability
Another way policymakers can foster economic growth is by protecting property
rights and promoting political stability. This issue goes to the very heart of how
market economies work.
Production in market economies arises from the interactions of millions of
individuals and firms. When you buy a car, for instance, you are buying the
output of a car dealer, a car manufacturer, a steel company, an iron ore mining
company, and so on. This division of production among many firms allows the
economy’s factors of production to be used as effectively as possible. To achieve
this outcome, the economy has to coordinate transactions among these firms, as
well as between firms and consumers. Market economies achieve this coordination through market prices. That is, market prices are the instrument with which
the invisible hand of the marketplace brings supply and demand into balance in
each of the many thousands of markets that make up the economy.
An important prerequisite for the price system to work is an economy-wide
respect for property rights. Property rights refer to the ability of people to exercise
authority over the resources they own. A mining company will not make the effort
to mine iron ore if it expects the ore to be stolen. The company mines the ore only
if it is confident that it will benefit from the ore’s subsequent sale. For this reason,
courts serve an important role in a market economy: They enforce property rights.
Through the criminal justice system, the courts discourage direct theft. In addition, through the civil justice system, the courts ensure that buyers and sellers live
up to their contracts.
Those of us in developed countries tend to take property rights for granted, but
those living in less developed countries understand that a lack of property rights
can be a major problem. In many countries, the system of justice does not work
well. Contracts are hard to enforce, and fraud often goes unpunished. In more
extreme cases, the government not only fails to enforce property rights but actually infringes upon them. To do business in some countries, firms are expected to
bribe government officials. Such corruption impedes the coordinating power of
markets. It also discourages domestic saving and investment from abroad.
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One threat to property rights is political instability. When revolutions and
coups are common, there is doubt about whether property rights will be respected
in the future. If a revolutionary government might confiscate the capital of some
businesses, as was often true after communist revolutions, domestic residents
have less incentive to save, invest, and start new businesses. At the same time,
foreigners have less incentive to invest in the country. Even the threat of revolution can act to depress a nation’s standard of living.
Thus, economic prosperity depends in part on political prosperity. A country
with an efficient court system, honest government officials, and a stable constitution will enjoy a higher economic standard of living than a country with a poor
court system, corrupt officials, and frequent revolutions and coups.
Free Trade
Some of the world’s poorest countries have tried to achieve more rapid economic
growth by pursuing inward-oriented policies. These policies attempt to increase
productivity and living standards within the country by avoiding interaction
with the rest of the world. Domestic firms often advance the infant-industry argument, claiming they need protection from foreign competition to thrive and grow.
Together with a general distrust of foreigners, this argument has at times led policymakers in less developed countries to impose tariffs and other trade restrictions.
Most economists today believe that poor countries are better off pursuing
outward-oriented policies that integrate these countries into the world economy.
International trade in goods and services can improve the economic well-being of
a country’s citizens. Trade is, in some ways, a type of technology. When a country
exports wheat and imports textiles, the country benefits as if it had invented a
technology for turning wheat into textiles. A country that eliminates trade restrictions will, therefore, experience the same kind of economic growth that would
occur after a major technological advance.
The adverse impact of inward orientation becomes clear when one considers
the small size of many less developed economies. The total GDP of Argentina,
for instance, is about that of Philadelphia. Imagine what would happen if the
Philadelphia city council were to prohibit city residents from trading with people
living outside the city limits. Without being able to take advantage of the gains
from trade, Philadelphia would need to produce all the goods it consumes. It
would also have to produce all its own capital goods, rather than importing
state-of-the-art equipment from other cities. Living standards in Philadelphia
would fall immediately, and the problem would likely only get worse over time.
This is precisely what happened when Argentina pursued inward-oriented
policies throughout much of the 20th century. In contrast, countries that pursued
outward-oriented policies, such as South Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan, enjoyed
high rates of economic growth.
The amount that a nation trades with others is determined not only by government policy but also by geography. Countries with natural seaports find trade easier
than countries without this resource. It is not a coincidence that many of the world’s
major cities, such as New York, San Francisco, and Hong Kong, are located next to
oceans. Similarly, because landlocked countries find international trade more difficult, they tend to have lower levels of income than countries with easy access to
the world’s waterways. For example, countries with more than 80 percent of their
population living within 100 kilometers of a coast have an average GDP per person
about four times as large as countries with less than 20 percent of their population
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living near a coast. The critical importance of access to the sea helps explain why the
African continent, which contains many landlocked countries, is so poor.
Research and Development
The primary reason that living standards are higher today than they were a century ago is that technological knowledge has advanced. The telephone, the transistor, the computer, and the internal combustion engine are among the thousands of
innovations that have improved the ability to produce goods and services.
Most technological advances come from private research by firms and individual inventors, but there is also a public interest in promoting these efforts. To a
large extent, knowledge is a public good: That is, once one person discovers an idea,
the idea enters society’s pool of knowledge, and other people can freely use it. Just
as government has a role in providing a public good such as national defense, it
also has a role in encouraging the research and development of new technologies.
The U.S. government has long played a role in the creation and dissemination
of technological knowledge. A century ago, the government sponsored research
about farming methods and advised farmers how best to use their land. More
recently, the U.S. government, through the Air Force and NASA, has supported
aerospace research; as a result, the United States is a leading maker of rockets
and planes. The government continues to encourage advances in knowledge with
research grants from the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes
of Health and with tax breaks for firms engaging in research and development.
Yet another way in which government policy encourages research is through the
patent system. When a person or firm invents a new product, such as a new drug, the
inventor can apply for a patent. If the product is deemed truly original, the government
awards the patent, which gives the inventor the exclusive right to make the product
for a specified number of years. In essence, the patent gives the inventor a property
right over his invention, turning his new idea from a public good into a private good.
By allowing inventors to profit from their inventions—even if only temporarily—the
patent system enhances the incentive for individuals and firms to engage in research.
Population Growth
Economists and other social scientists have long debated how population affects a society. The most direct effect is on the size of the labor force: A large population means
more workers to produce goods and services. The tremendous size of the Chinese
population is one reason China is such an important player in the world economy.
At the same time, however, a large population means more people to consume
those goods and services. So while a large population means a larger total output of
goods and services, it need not mean a higher standard of living for a typical citizen.
Indeed, both large and small nations are found at all levels of economic development.
Beyond these obvious effects of population size, population growth interacts
with the other factors of production in ways that are more subtle and open to debate.
Stretching Natural Resources Thomas Robert Malthus (1766–1834), an
English minister and early economic thinker, is famous for his book called An
Essay on the Principle of Population as It Affects the Future Improvement of Society. In
it, he offered what may be history’s most chilling forecast. Malthus argued that an
ever-increasing population would continually strain society’s ability to provide
for itself. As a result, mankind was doomed to forever live in poverty.
Malthus’s logic was simple. He began by noting that “food is necessary to the
existence of man” and that “the passion between the sexes is necessary and will
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remain nearly in its present state.” He concluded that “the power of population
is infinitely greater than the power in the earth to produce subsistence for man.”
According to Malthus, the only check on population growth was “misery and
vice.” Attempts by charities or governments to alleviate poverty were counterproductive, he argued, because they merely allowed the poor to have more
children, placing even greater strains on society’s productive capabilities.
Malthus may have correctly described the world at the time when he lived,
but fortunately, his dire forecast was far off the mark. The world population has
increased about sixfold over the past two centuries, but living standards around the
world are on average much higher. As a result of economic growth, chronic hunger
and malnutrition are less common now than they were in Malthus’s day. Modern
famines occur from time to time but are more often the result of an unequal income
distribution or political instability than inadequate food production.
Where did Malthus go wrong? As we discussed in a case study earlier in this
chapter, growth in human ingenuity has offset the effects of a larger population.
Pesticides, fertilizers, mechanized farm equipment, new crop varieties, and other
technological advances that Malthus never imagined have allowed each farmer to
feed ever greater numbers of people. Even with more mouths to feed, fewer farmers
are necessary because each farmer is much more productive.
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© ARP/TOPHAM/THE IMAGEWORKS
CHAPTER 12
Thomas Robert Malthus
Diluting the Capital Stock Whereas Malthus worried about the effects of population on the use of natural resources, some modern theories of economic growth
emphasize its effects on capital accumulation. According to these theories, high
population growth reduces GDP per worker because rapid growth in the number of
workers forces the capital stock to be spread more thinly. In other words, when population growth is rapid, each worker is equipped with less capital. A smaller quantity
of capital per worker leads to lower productivity and lower GDP per worker.
This problem is most apparent in the case of human capital. Countries with
high population growth have large numbers of school-age children. This places
a larger burden on the educational system. It is not surprising, therefore, that
educational attainment tends to be low in countries with high population growth.
The differences in population growth around the world are large. In developed
countries, such as the United States and those in Western Europe, the population has risen only about 1 percent per year in recent decades and is expected to
rise even more slowly in the future. By contrast, in many poor African countries,
population grows at about 3 percent per year. At this rate, the population doubles
every 23 years. This rapid population growth makes it harder to provide workers
with the tools and skills they need to achieve high levels of productivity.
Rapid population growth is not the main reason that less developed countries
are poor, but some analysts believe that reducing the rate of population growth
would help these countries raise their standards of living. In some countries, this
goal is accomplished directly with laws that regulate the number of children families may have. China, for instance, allows only one child per family; couples who
violate this rule are subject to substantial fines. In countries with greater freedom,
the goal of reduced population growth is accomplished less directly by increasing
awareness of birth control techniques.
Another way in which a country can influence population growth is to apply
one of the Ten Principles of Economics: People respond to incentives. Bearing a
child, like any decision, has an opportunity cost. When the opportunity cost rises,
people will choose to have smaller families. In particular, women with the opportunity to receive a good education and desirable employment tend to want fewer
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in the news
One Economist’s Answer
MIT economist Daron Acemoglu considers why some nations thrive
while others do not.
What Makes
a Nation Rich?
BY DARON ACEMOGLU
W
e are the rich, the haves, the developed. And most of the rest—in
Africa, South Asia, and South America, the
Somalias and Bolivias and Bangladeshes of
the world—are the nots. It’s always been
this way, a globe divided by wealth and
poverty, health and sickness, food and famine, though the extent of inequality across
nations today is unprecedented: The average citizen of the United States is ten times
as prosperous as the average Guatemalan,
more than twenty times as prosperous as
the average North Korean, and more than
forty times as prosperous as those living in
Mali, Ethiopia, Congo, or Sierra Leone.
The question social scientists have
unsuccessfully wrestled with for centuries
is, Why? But the question they should
have been asking is, How? Because
inequality is not predetermined. Nations
are not like children—they are not born
rich or poor. Their governments make
them that way.
You can chart the search for a theory of inequality to the French political
philosopher Montesquieu, who in the
mid-eighteenth century came up with a
very simple explanation: People in hot
places are inherently lazy. Other no less
sweeping explanations soon followed:
Could it be that Max Weber’s Protestant
work ethic is the true driver of economic
success? Or perhaps the richest countries
are those that were former British colonies? Or maybe it’s as simple as tracing
which nations have the largest populations of European descent? The problem
with all of these theories is that while
they superficially fit some specific cases,
others radically disprove them.
It’s the same with the theories put forth
today. Economist Jeffrey Sachs, director
of Columbia University’s Earth Institute,
attributes the relative success of nations
to geography and weather: In the poorest
parts of the world, he argues, nutrientstarved tropical soil makes agriculture a
challenge, and tropical climates foment
disease, particularly malaria. Perhaps if
we were to fix these problems, teach the
citizens of these nations better farming
techniques, eliminate malaria, or at the
very least equip them with artemisinin to
fight this deadly disease, we could eliminate poverty. Or better yet, perhaps we just
move these people and abandon their
inhospitable land altogether.
Jared Diamond, the famous ecologist
and best-selling author, has a different
theory: The origin of world inequality stems
from the historical endowment of plant and
animal species and the advancement of
technology. In Diamond’s telling, the cultures that first learned to plant crops were
the first to learn how to use a plow, and thus
were first to adopt other technologies, the
engine of every successful economy. Perhaps
then the solution to world inequality rests in
technology—wiring the developing world
with Internet and cell phones.
And yet while Sachs and Diamond offer
good insight into certain aspects of poverty,
they share something in common with
Montesquieu and others who followed:
They ignore incentives. People need incentives to invest and prosper; they need to
know that if they work hard, they can make
money and actually keep that money. And
the key to ensuring those incentives is
sound institutions—the rule of law and
security and a governing system that offers
opportunities to achieve and innovate.
That’s what determines the haves from the
have-nots—not geography or weather or
technology or disease or ethnicity.
Put simply: Fix incentives and you will fix
poverty. And if you wish to fix institutions,
you have to fix governments.
How do we know that institutions are
so central to the wealth and poverty of
nations? Start in Nogales, a city cut in half
children than those with fewer opportunities outside the home. Hence, policies
that foster equal treatment of women may be one way for less developed economies to reduce the rate of population growth and, perhaps, raise their standards
of living.
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© COURTESY, DARON ACEMOGLU
CHAPTER 12
by the Mexican-American border fence.
There is no difference in geography between
the two halves of Nogales. The weather
is the same. The winds are the same, as are
the soils. The types of diseases prevalent in
the area given its geography and climate
are the same, as is the ethnic, cultural, and
linguistic background of the residents. By
logic, both sides of the city should be identical economically.
And yet they are far from the same.
On one side of the border fence, in
Santa Cruz County, Arizona, the median
household income is $30,000. A few feet
away, it’s $10,000. On one side, most of
the teenagers are in public high school,
and the majority of the adults are high
school graduates. On the other side, few of
the residents have gone to high school, let
alone college. Those in Arizona enjoy relatively good health and Medicare for those
over sixty-five, not to mention an efficient road network, electricity, telephone
service, and a dependable sewage and
public-health system. None of those things
are a given across the border. There, the
roads are bad, the infant-mortality rate
high, electricity and phone service expensive and spotty.
The key difference is that those on the
north side of the border enjoy law and order
and dependable government services—they
can go about their daily activities and jobs
without fear for their life or safety or property
rights. On the other side, the inhabitants
have institutions that perpetuate crime, graft,
and insecurity.
Nogales may be the most obvious example, but it’s far from the only one. Take
Singapore, a once-impoverished tropical
island that became the richest nation in Asia
after British colonialists enshrined property
rights and encouraged trade. Or China,
where decades of stagnation and famine
were reversed only after Deng Xiaoping
began introducing private-property rights
in agriculture, and later in industry. Or
Botswana, whose economy has flourished
over the past forty years while the rest of
Africa has withered, thanks to strong tribal
institutions and farsighted nation building
by its early elected leaders.
Now look at the economic and political
failures. You can begin in Sierra Leone,
where a lack of functioning institutions
and an overabundance of diamonds have
fueled decades of civil war and strife and
corruption that continue unchecked today.
Or take communist North Korea, a geographical, ethnic, and cultural mirror of its
capitalist neighbor to the south, yet ten
times poorer. Or Egypt, cradle of one of
the world’s great civilizations yet stagnant
Daron Acemoglu
PRODUCTION AND GROWTH
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economically ever since its colonization
by the Ottomans and then the Europeans,
only made worse by its post-independence
governments, which have restricted all
economic activities and markets. In fact,
the theory can be used to shed light on
the patterns of inequality for much of the
world.
If we know why nations are poor, the
resulting question is what can we do to
help them. Our ability to impose institutions
from the outside is limited, as the recent
U.S. experiences in Afghanistan and Iraq
demonstrate. But we are not helpless, and
in many instances, there is a lot to be done.
Even the most repressed citizens of the
world will stand up to tyrants when given
the opportunity. We saw this recently in Iran
and a few years ago in Ukraine during the
Orange Revolution.
The U.S. must not take a passive role
in encouraging these types of movements.
Our foreign policy should encourage them
by punishing repressive regimes through
trade embargoes and diplomacy…. At the
microlevel, we can help foreign citizens
by educating them and arming them with
the modern tools of activism, most notably
the Internet, and perhaps even encryption
technology and cell-phone platforms that
can evade firewalls and censorship put in
place by repressive governments, such as
those in China or Iran, that fear the power
of information.
There’s no doubt that erasing global
inequality, which has been with us for
millennia and has expanded to unprecedented levels over the past century and a
half, won’t be easy. But by accepting the
role of failed governments and institutions
in causing poverty, we have a fighting
chance of reversing it.
Source: Esquire, November 18, 2009.
Promoting Technological Progress Rapid population growth may depress
economic prosperity by reducing the amount of capital each worker has, but
it may also have some benefits. Some economists have suggested that world
population growth has been an engine of technological progress and economic
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prosperity. The mechanism is simple: If there are more people, then there are
more scientists, inventors, and engineers to contribute to technological advance,
which benefits everyone.
Economist Michael Kremer has provided some support for this hypothesis in
an article titled “Population Growth and Technological Change: One Million b.c.
to 1990,” which was published in the Quarterly Journal of Economics in 1993.
Kremer begins by noting that over the broad span of human history, world
growth rates have increased with world population. For example, world growth
was more rapid when the world population was 1 billion (which occurred around
the year 1800) than when the population was only 100 million (around 500 b.c.).
This fact is consistent with the hypothesis that a larger population induces more
technological progress.
Kremer’s second piece of evidence comes from comparing regions of the world.
The melting of the polar icecaps at the end of the Ice Age around 10,000 b.c.
flooded the land bridges and separated the world into several distinct regions that
could not communicate with one another for thousands of years. If technological
progress is more rapid when there are more people to discover things, then larger
regions should have experienced more rapid growth.
According to Kremer, that is exactly what happened. The most successful
region of the world in 1500 (when Columbus reestablished technological contact)
comprised the “Old World” civilizations of the large Eurasia-Africa region. Next
in technological development were the Aztec and Mayan civilizations in the
Americas, followed by the hunter-gatherers of Australia, and then the primitive
people of Tasmania, who lacked even fire-making and most stone and bone tools.
The smallest isolated region was Flinders Island, a tiny island between Tasmania
and Australia. With the smallest population, Flinders Island had the fewest opportunities for technological advance and, indeed, seemed to regress. Around 3000
b.c., human society on Flinders Island died out completely. A large population,
Kremer concludes, is a prerequisite for technological advance.
QUICK QUIZ Describe three ways a government policymaker can try to raise the
growth in living standards in a society. Are there any drawbacks to these policies?
Conclusion: The Importance of Long-Run Growth
In this chapter, we have discussed what determines the standard of living in
a nation and how policymakers can endeavor to raise the standard of living
through policies that promote economic growth. Most of this chapter is summarized in one of the Ten Principles of Economics: A country’s standard of living
depends on its ability to produce goods and services. Policymakers who want to
encourage growth in living standards must aim to increase their nation’s productive ability by encouraging rapid accumulation of the factors of production and
ensuring that these factors are employed as effectively as possible.
Economists differ in their views of the role of government in promoting economic growth. At the very least, government can lend support to the invisible
hand by maintaining property rights and political stability. More controversial is
whether government should target and subsidize specific industries that might
be especially important for technological progress. There is no doubt that these
issues are among the most important in economics. The success of one generation’s policymakers in learning and heeding the fundamental lessons about economic growth determines what kind of world the next generation will inherit.
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257
SUMMARY
SU
• Economic prosperity, as measured by GDP per • The accumulation of capital is subject to diminperson, varies substantially around the world.
The average income in the world’s richest countries is more than ten times that in the world’s
poorest countries. Because growth rates of real
GDP also vary substantially, the relative positions
of countries can change dramatically over time.
• The standard of living in an economy depends on
the economy’s ability to produce goods and services. Productivity, in turn, depends on the physical capital, human capital, natural resources, and
technological knowledge available to workers.
• Government policies can try to influence the
economy’s growth rate in many ways: by encouraging saving and investment, encouraging
investment from abroad, fostering education,
promoting good health, maintaining property
rights and political stability, allowing free trade,
and promoting the research and development of
new technologies.
ishing returns: The more capital an economy has,
the less additional output the economy gets from
an extra unit of capital. As a result, while higher
saving leads to higher growth for a period of
time, growth eventually slows down as capital,
productivity, and income rise. Also because of
diminishing returns, the return to capital is especially high in poor countries. Other things equal,
these countries can grow faster because of the
catch-up effect.
• Population growth has a variety of effects on
economic growth. On the one hand, more rapid
population growth may lower productivity by
stretching the supply of natural resources and
by reducing the amount of capital available for
each worker. On the other hand, a larger population may enhance the rate of technological
progress because there are more scientists and
engineers.
KEY CONC
C ONCEPTS
EPTS
productivity, p. 241
physical capital, p. 241
human capital, p. 242
natural resources, p. 242
technological
knowledge, p. 242
diminishing returns, p. 245
catch-up effect, p. 245
QUESTIONS
QUESTIO
NS FOR
FO R REVIEW
R EVIEW
1. What does the level of a nation’s GDP measure?
What does the growth rate of GDP measure?
Would you rather live in a nation with a high
level of GDP and a low growth rate or in a nation
with a low level of GDP and a high growth rate?
2. List and describe four determinants of
productivity.
3. In what way is a college degree a form of capital?
4. Explain how higher saving leads to a higher
standard of living. What might deter a
policymaker from trying to raise the rate of
saving?
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5. Does a higher rate of saving lead to higher
growth temporarily or indefinitely?
6. Why would removing a trade restriction,
such as a tariff, lead to more rapid economic
growth?
7. How does the rate of population growth
influence the level of GDP per person?
8. Describe two ways the U.S. government
tries to encourage advances in technological
knowledge.
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PRO
O BLEMS
S AND APPLICATIO
C
O NS
S
1. Most countries, including the United States,
import substantial amounts of goods and
services from other countries. Yet the chapter
says that a nation can enjoy a high standard of
living only if it can produce a large quantity
of goods and services itself. Can you reconcile
these two facts?
2. Suppose that society decided to reduce
consumption and increase investment.
a. How would this change affect economic
growth?
b. What groups in society would benefit from
this change? What groups might be hurt?
3. Societies choose what share of their resources
to devote to consumption and what share to
devote to investment. Some of these decisions
involve private spending; others involve
government spending.
a. Describe some forms of private spending that
represent consumption and some forms that
represent investment. The national income
accounts include tuition as a part of consumer
spending. In your opinion, are the resources
you devote to your education a form of
consumption or a form of investment?
b. Describe some forms of government
spending that represent consumption and
some forms that represent investment. In
your opinion, should we view government
spending on health programs as a form of
consumption or investment? Would you
distinguish between health programs for the
young and health programs for the elderly?
4. What is the opportunity cost of investing
in capital? Do you think a country can
“overinvest” in capital? What is the
opportunity cost of investing in human
capital? Do you think a country can
“overinvest” in human capital? Explain.
5. Suppose that an auto company owned entirely
by German citizens opens a new factory in
South Carolina.
a. What sort of foreign investment would this
represent?
b. What would be the effect of this investment
on U.S. GDP? Would the effect on U.S. GNP
be larger or smaller?
6. In the 1990s and the first decade of the 2000s,
investors from the Asian economies of Japan
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7.
8.
9.
10.
and China made significant direct and
portfolio investments in the United States. At
the time, many Americans were unhappy that
this investment was occurring.
a. In what way was it better for the United
States to receive this foreign investment than
not to receive it?
b. In what way would it have been better
still for Americans to have made this
investment?
In many developing nations, young women
have lower enrollment rates in secondary school
than do young men. Describe several ways in
which greater educational opportunities for
young women could lead to faster economic
growth in these countries.
International data show a positive correlation
between income per person and the health of
the population.
a. Explain how higher income might cause
better health outcomes.
b. Explain how better health outcomes might
cause higher income.
c. How might the relative importance of your
two hypotheses be relevant for public policy?
International data show a positive correlation
between political stability and economic
growth.
a. Through what mechanism could political
stability lead to strong economic growth?
b. Through what mechanism could strong
economic growth lead to political stability?
From 1950 to 2000, manufacturing employment
as a percentage of total employment in the U.S.
economy fell from 28 percent to 13 percent.
At the same time, manufacturing output
experienced slightly more rapid growth than
the overall economy.
a. What do these facts say about growth in
labor productivity (defined as output per
worker) in manufacturing?
b. In your opinion, should policymakers be
concerned about the decline in the share of
manufacturing employment? Explain.
For further information on topics in this chapter,
additional problems, applications, examples, online
quizzes, and more, please visit our website at www
.cengage.com/economics/mankiw.
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Saving, Investment, and
the Financial System
13
I
magine that you have just graduated from college (with a degree in economics, of course) and you decide to start your own business—an economic forecasting firm. Before you make any money selling your forecasts, you have to
incur substantial costs to set up your business. You have to buy computers
with which to make your forecasts, as well as desks, chairs, and filing cabinets to
furnish your new office. Each of these items is a type of capital that your firm will
use to produce and sell its services.
How do you obtain the funds to invest in these capital goods? Perhaps you
are able to pay for them out of your past savings. More likely, however, like most
entrepreneurs, you do not have enough money of your own to finance the start
of your business. As a result, you have to get the money you need from other
sources.
There are various ways to finance these capital investments. You could borrow the money, perhaps from a bank or from a friend or relative. In this case,
259
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financial system
the group of institutions
in the economy that help
to match one person’s
saving with another
person’s investment
you would promise not only to return the money at a later date but also to pay
interest for the use of the money. Alternatively, you could convince someone to
provide the money you need for your business in exchange for a share of your
future profits, whatever they might happen to be. In either case, your investment
in computers and office equipment is being financed by someone else’s saving.
The financial system consists of the institutions that help to match one person’s saving with another person’s investment. As we discussed in the previous
chapter, saving and investment are key ingredients to long-run economic growth:
When a country saves a large portion of its GDP, more resources are available for
investment in capital, and higher capital raises a country’s productivity and living standard. The previous chapter, however, did not explain how the economy
coordinates saving and investment. At any time, some people want to save some
of their income for the future, and others want to borrow to finance investments in
new and growing businesses. What brings these two groups of people together?
What ensures that the supply of funds from those who want to save balances the
demand for funds from those who want to invest?
This chapter examines how the financial system works. First, we discuss the
large variety of institutions that make up the financial system in our economy.
Second, we discuss the relationship between the financial system and some key
macroeconomic variables—notably saving and investment. Third, we develop a
model of the supply and demand for funds in financial markets. In the model, the
interest rate is the price that adjusts to balance supply and demand. The model
shows how various government policies affect the interest rate and, thereby, society’s allocation of scarce resources.
Financial Institutions in the U.S. Economy
financial markets
At the broadest level, the financial system moves the economy’s scarce resources
from savers (people who spend less than they earn) to borrowers (people who
spend more than they earn). Savers save for various reasons—to put a child
through college in several years or to retire comfortably in several decades.
Similarly, borrowers borrow for various reasons—to buy a house in which to live
or to start a business with which to make a living. Savers supply their money to
the financial system with the expectation that they will get it back with interest at
a later date. Borrowers demand money from the financial system with the knowledge that they will be required to pay it back with interest at a later date.
The financial system is made up of various financial institutions that help coordinate savers and borrowers. As a prelude to analyzing the economic forces that
drive the financial system, let’s discuss the most important of these institutions.
Financial institutions can be grouped into two categories: financial markets and
financial intermediaries. We consider each category in turn.
financial institutions
through which savers can
directly provide funds to
borrowers
Financial Markets
bond
The Bond Market When Intel, the giant maker of computer chips, wants to
borrow to finance construction of a new factory, it can borrow directly from the
public. It does this by selling bonds. A bond is a certificate of indebtedness that
a certificate of
indebtedness
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Financial markets are the institutions through which a person who wants to save
can directly supply funds to a person who wants to borrow. The two most important financial markets in our economy are the bond market and the stock market.
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261
specifies the obligations of the borrower to the holder of the bond. Put simply, a
bond is an IOU. It identifies the time at which the loan will be repaid, called the
date of maturity, and the rate of interest that will be paid periodically until the loan
matures. The buyer of a bond gives his or her money to Intel in exchange for this
promise of interest and eventual repayment of the amount borrowed (called the
principal). The buyer can hold the bond until maturity or can sell the bond at an
earlier date to someone else.
There are literally millions of different bonds in the U.S. economy. When large
corporations, the federal government, or state and local governments need to borrow to finance the purchase of a new factory, a new jet fighter, or a new school,
they usually do so by issuing bonds. If you look at The Wall Street Journal or the
business section of your local newspaper, you will find a listing of the prices and
interest rates on some of the most important bond issues. These bonds differ
according to three significant characteristics.
The first characteristic is a bond’s term—the length of time until the bond
matures. Some bonds have short terms, such as a few months, while others have
terms as long as thirty years. (The British government has even issued a bond
that never matures, called a perpetuity. This bond pays interest forever, but the
principal is never repaid.) The interest rate on a bond depends, in part, on its
term. Long-term bonds are riskier than short-term bonds because holders of
long-term bonds have to wait longer for repayment of principal. If a holder of
a long-term bond needs his money earlier than the distant date of maturity, he
has no choice but to sell the bond to someone else, perhaps at a reduced price.
To compensate for this risk, long-term bonds usually pay higher interest rates
than short-term bonds.
The second important characteristic of a bond is its credit risk—the probability
that the borrower will fail to pay some of the interest or principal. Such a failure to
pay is called a default. Borrowers can (and sometimes do) default on their loans by
declaring bankruptcy. When bond buyers perceive that the probability of default
is high, they demand a higher interest rate to compensate them for this risk.
Because the U.S. government is considered a safe credit risk, government bonds
tend to pay low interest rates. By contrast, financially shaky corporations raise
money by issuing junk bonds, which pay very high interest rates. Buyers of bonds
can judge credit risk by checking with various private agencies, such as Standard &
Poor’s, which rate the credit risk of different bonds.
The third important characteristic of a bond is its tax treatment—the way the
tax laws treat the interest earned on the bond. The interest on most bonds is taxable income; that is, the bond owner has to pay a portion of the interest in income
taxes. By contrast, when state and local governments issue bonds, called municipal
bonds, the bond owners are not required to pay federal income tax on the interest
income. Because of this tax advantage, bonds issued by state and local governments typically pay a lower interest rate than bonds issued by corporations or the
federal government.
The Stock Market Another way for Intel to raise funds to build a new semiconductor factory is to sell stock in the company. Stock represents ownership in
a firm and is, therefore, a claim to the profits that the firm makes. For example, if
Intel sells a total of 1,000,000 shares of stock, then each share represents ownership
of 1/1,000,000 of the business.
The sale of stock to raise money is called equity finance, whereas the sale of
bonds is called debt finance. Although corporations use both equity and debt
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stock
a claim to partial
ownership in a firm
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finance to raise money for new investments, stocks and bonds are very different.
The owner of shares of Intel stock is a part owner of Intel, while the owner of an
Intel bond is a creditor of the corporation. If Intel is very profitable, the stockholders enjoy the benefits of these profits, whereas the bondholders get only the
interest on their bonds. And if Intel runs into financial difficulty, the bondholders
are paid what they are due before stockholders receive anything at all. Compared
to bonds, stocks offer the holder both higher risk and potentially higher return.
After a corporation issues stock by selling shares to the public, these shares
trade among stockholders on organized stock exchanges. In these transactions,
the corporation itself receives no money when its stock changes hands. The
most important stock exchanges in the U.S. economy are the New York Stock
Exchange, the American Stock Exchange, and the NASDAQ (National Association
of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation system). Most of the world’s countries
have their own stock exchanges on which the shares of local companies trade.
The prices at which shares trade on stock exchanges are determined by the
supply of and demand for the stock in these companies. Because stock represents
ownership in a corporation, the demand for a stock (and thus its price) reflects
people’s perception of the corporation’s future profitability. When people become
optimistic about a company’s future, they raise their demand for its stock and
thereby bid up the price of a share of stock. Conversely, when people come to
expect a company to have little profit or even losses, the price of a share falls.
Various stock indexes are available to monitor the overall level of stock
prices. A stock index is computed as an average of a group of stock prices. The
most famous stock index is the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which has been
computed regularly since 1896. It is now based on the prices of the stocks of
thirty major U.S. companies, such as General Electric, Microsoft, Coca-Cola,
Walt Disney Company, AT&T, and IBM. Another well-known stock index is the
Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, which is based on the prices of the stocks of 500
major companies. Because stock prices reflect expected profitability, these stock
indexes are watched closely as possible indicators of future economic conditions.
Financial Intermediaries
financial
intermediaries
financial institutions
through which savers can
indirectly provide funds to
borrowers
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Financial intermediaries are financial institutions through which savers can indirectly provide funds to borrowers. The term intermediary reflects the role of these
institutions in standing between savers and borrowers. Here we consider two of
the most important financial intermediaries: banks and mutual funds.
Banks If the owner of a small grocery store wants to finance an expansion of
his business, he probably takes a strategy quite different from that of Intel. Unlike
Intel, a small grocer would find it difficult to raise funds in the bond and stock
markets. Most buyers of stocks and bonds prefer to buy those issued by larger,
more familiar companies. The small grocer, therefore, most likely finances his
business expansion with a loan from a local bank.
Banks are the financial intermediaries with which people are most familiar. A
primary job of banks is to take in deposits from people who want to save and use
these deposits to make loans to people who want to borrow. Banks pay depositors
interest on their deposits and charge borrowers slightly higher interest on their
loans. The difference between these rates of interest covers the banks’ costs and
returns some profit to the owners of the banks.
Besides being financial intermediaries, banks play a second important role in
the economy: They facilitate purchases of goods and services by allowing people
to write checks against their deposits and to access those deposits with debit cards.
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FYI
Key Numbers for Stock Watchers
W
hen following the stock of any company, you should keep an
eye on three key numbers. These numbers are reported on the
financial pages of some newspapers, and you can easily obtain them
from online news services:
• Price. The single most important piece of information about
a stock is the price of a share. News services usually present
several prices. The “last” or “closing” price is the price of the
last transaction that occurred before the stock exchange closed
in its most recent day of trading. A news service may also give
the “high” and “low” prices over the past day of trading and,
sometimes, over the past year as well. It may also report the
change from the previous day’s closing price.
• Dividend. Corporations pay out some of their profits to their
stockholders; this amount is called the dividend. (Profits not paid
out are called retained earnings and are used by the corporation for additional investment.) News services often report the
dividend paid over the previous year for each share of stock.
They sometimes report the dividend yield, which is the dividend
expressed as a percentage of the stock’s price.
• Price-earnings ratio. A corporation’s earnings, or
accounting profit, is the amount of revenue it receives for the
sale of its products minus its costs of production as measured
by its accountants. Earnings per share is the company’s total
earnings divided by the number of shares of stock outstanding.
The price-earnings ratio, often called the P/E, is the price of
a corporation’s stock divided by the amount the corporation
earned per share over the past year. Historically, the typical
price-earnings ratio is about 15. A higher P/E indicates that a
corporation’s stock is expensive relative to its recent earnings;
this might indicate either that people expect earnings to rise in
the future or that the stock is overvalued. Conversely, a lower
P/E indicates that a corporation’s stock is cheap relative to its
recent earnings; this might indicate either that people expect
earnings to fall or that the stock is undervalued.
Why do news services report all these data? Many people who
invest their savings in stock follow these numbers closely when
deciding which stocks to buy and sell. By contrast, other stockholders follow a buy-and-hold strategy: They buy the stock of well-run
companies, hold it for long periods of time, and do not respond to
the daily fluctuations.
In other words, banks help create a special asset that people can use as a medium
of exchange. A medium of exchange is an item that people can easily use to engage
in transactions. A bank’s role in providing a medium of exchange distinguishes it
from many other financial institutions. Stocks and bonds, like bank deposits, are
a possible store of value for the wealth that people have accumulated in past saving, but access to this wealth is not as easy, cheap, and immediate as just writing a
check or using a debit card. For now, we ignore this second role of banks, but we
will return to it when we discuss the monetary system later in the book.
Mutual Funds A financial intermediary of increasing importance in the U.S.
economy is the mutual fund. A mutual fund is an institution that sells shares to
the public and uses the proceeds to buy a selection, or portfolio, of various types
of stocks, bonds, or both stocks and bonds. The shareholder of the mutual fund
accepts all the risk and return associated with the portfolio. If the value of the
portfolio rises, the shareholder benefits; if the value of the portfolio falls, the
shareholder suffers the loss.
The primary advantage of mutual funds is that they allow people with small
amounts of money to diversify their holdings. Buyers of stocks and bonds are
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mutual fund
an institution that sells
shares to the public and
uses the proceeds to buy
a portfolio of stocks and
bonds
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© ARLO & JANIS REPRINTED BY PERMISSION
OF UNITED FEATURE SYNDICATE, INC.
264
well advised to heed the adage: Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Because the
value of any single stock or bond is tied to the fortunes of one company, holding a
single kind of stock or bond is very risky. By contrast, people who hold a diverse
portfolio of stocks and bonds face less risk because they have only a small stake in
each company. Mutual funds make this diversification easy. With only a few hundred dollars, a person can buy shares in a mutual fund and, indirectly, become
the part owner or creditor of hundreds of major companies. For this service, the
company operating the mutual fund charges shareholders a fee, usually between
0.5 and 2.0 percent of assets each year.
A second advantage claimed by mutual fund companies is that mutual funds
give ordinary people access to the skills of professional money managers. The
managers of most mutual funds pay close attention to the developments and prospects of the companies in which they buy stock. These managers buy the stock of
companies they view as having a profitable future and sell the stock of companies
with less promising prospects. This professional management, it is argued, should
increase the return that mutual fund depositors earn on their savings.
Financial economists, however, are often skeptical of this second argument.
With thousands of money managers paying close attention to each company’s
prospects, the price of a company’s stock is usually a good reflection of the company’s true value. As a result, it is hard to “beat the market” by buying good
stocks and selling bad ones. In fact, mutual funds called index funds, which buy
all the stocks in a given stock index, perform somewhat better on average than
mutual funds that take advantage of active trading by professional money managers. The explanation for the superior performance of index funds is that they keep
costs low by buying and selling very rarely and by not having to pay the salaries
of the professional money managers.
Summing Up
The U.S. economy contains a large variety of financial institutions. In addition to
the bond market, the stock market, banks, and mutual funds, there are also pension funds, credit unions, insurance companies, and even the local loan shark.
These institutions differ in many ways. When analyzing the macroeconomic role
of the financial system, however, it is more important to keep in mind the similarity of these institutions than the differences. These financial institutions all serve
the same goal: directing the resources of savers into the hands of borrowers.
QUICK QUIZ What is stock? What is a bond? How are they different? How are they
similar?
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FYI
Financial Crises
I
n 2008 and 2009, the U.S. economy and many other major economies around the world experienced a financial crisis, which in turn
led to a deep downturn in economic activity. We will examine these
events in detail later in this book, but here we can outline the key
elements of financial crises.
The first element of a financial crisis is a large decline in some
asset prices. In 2008 and 2009, that asset was real estate. The price
of housing, after experiencing a boom earlier in the decade, fell
by about 30 percent over just a few years. Such a large decline in
real estate prices had not been seen in the United States since the
1930s.
The second element of a financial crisis is insolvencies at financial institutions. In 2008 and 2009, many banks and other financial
firms had in effect placed bets on real estate prices by holding
mortgages backed by that real estate. When house prices fell,
large numbers of homeowners stopped repaying their loans. These
defaults pushed several financial institutions toward bankruptcy.
The third element of a financial crisis is a decline in confidence
in financial institutions. While some deposits in banks are insured
by government policies, not all are. As insolvencies mounted,
every financial institution became a possible candidate for the next
bankruptcy. Individuals and firms with uninsured deposits in those
institutions pulled out their money. Facing a rash of withdrawals,
banks started selling off assets (sometimes at reduced “fire-sale”
prices), and they cut back on new lending.
The fourth element of a financial crisis is a credit crunch. With
many financial institutions facing difficulties, would-be borrowers
had trouble getting loans, even if they had profitable investment
projects. In essence, the financial system had trouble performing its
normal function of directing the resources of savers into the hands
of borrowers with the best investment opportunities.
The fifth element of a financial crisis is an economic downturn.
With people unable to obtain financing for new investment projects,
the overall demand for goods and services declined. As a result, for
reasons we discuss more fully later in the book, national income fell
and unemployment rose.
The sixth and final element of a financial crisis is a vicious circle.
The economic downturn reduced the profitability of many companies
and the value of many assets. Thus, we returned to step one, and
the problems in the financial system and the economic downturn
reinforced each other.
Financial crises, such as that of 2008 and 2009, can have severe
consequences. Fortunately, they do end. Financial institutions eventually get back on their feet, perhaps with some help from government policy, and they return to their normal function of financial
intermediation.
Saving and Investment in the National Income Accounts
Events that occur within the financial system are central to understanding developments in the overall economy. As we have just seen, the institutions that make
up this system—the bond market, the stock market, banks, and mutual funds—
have the role of coordinating the economy’s saving and investment. And as we
saw in the previous chapter, saving and investment are important determinants of
long-run growth in GDP and living standards. As a result, macroeconomists need
to understand how financial markets work and how various events and policies
affect them.
As a starting point for an analysis of financial markets, we discuss in this section the key macroeconomic variables that measure activity in these markets. Our
emphasis here is not on behavior but on accounting. Accounting refers to how
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various numbers are defined and added up. A personal accountant might help an
individual add up her income and expenses. A national income accountant does
the same thing for the economy as a whole. The national income accounts include,
in particular, GDP and the many related statistics.
The rules of national income accounting include several important identities.
Recall that an identity is an equation that must be true because of the way the
variables in the equation are defined. Identities are useful to keep in mind, for
they clarify how different variables are related to one another. Here we consider
some accounting identities that shed light on the macroeconomic role of financial
markets.
Some Important Identities
Recall that gross domestic product (GDP) is both total income in an economy
and the total expenditure on the economy’s output of goods and services. GDP
(denoted as Y) is divided into four components of expenditure: consumption (C),
investment (I), government purchases (G), and net exports (NX). We write
Y = C + I + G + NX.
This equation is an identity because every dollar of expenditure that shows up
on the left side also shows up in one of the four components on the right side.
Because of the way each of the variables is defined and measured, this equation
must always hold.
In this chapter, we simplify our analysis by assuming that the economy we
are examining is closed. A closed economy is one that does not interact with other
economies. In particular, a closed economy does not engage in international trade
in goods and services, nor does it engage in international borrowing and lending.
Actual economies are open economies—that is, they interact with other economies
around the world. Nonetheless, assuming a closed economy is a useful simplification with which we can learn some lessons that apply to all economies. Moreover,
this assumption applies perfectly to the world economy (for interplanetary trade
is not yet common).
Because a closed economy does not engage in international trade, imports and
exports are exactly zero. Therefore, net exports (NX) are also zero. In this case, we
can write
Y = C + I + G.
This equation states that GDP is the sum of consumption, investment, and government purchases. Each unit of output sold in a closed economy is consumed,
invested, or bought by the government.
To see what this identity can tell us about financial markets, subtract C and G
from both sides of this equation. We obtain
Y – C – G = I.
national saving
(saving)
the total income in
the economy that
remains after paying
for consumption and
government purchases
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-026.indd 562
The left side of this equation (Y – C – G) is the total income in the economy that
remains after paying for consumption and government purchases: This amount is
called national saving, or just saving, and is denoted S. Substituting S for Y – C – G,
we can write the last equation as
S = I.
This equation states that saving equals investment.
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267
To understand the meaning of national saving, it is helpful to manipulate the
definition a bit more. Let T denote the amount that the government collects from
households in taxes minus the amount it pays back to households in the form
of transfer payments (such as Social Security and welfare). We can then write
national saving in either of two ways:
S=Y–C–G
or
S = (Y – T – C) + (T – G).
These equations are the same because the two Ts in the second equation cancel
each other, but each reveals a different way of thinking about national saving. In
particular, the second equation separates national saving into two pieces: private
saving (Y – T – C) and public saving (T – G).
Consider each of these two pieces. Private saving is the amount of income that
households have left after paying their taxes and paying for their consumption.
In particular, because households receive income of Y, pay taxes of T, and spend
C on consumption, private saving is Y – T – C. Public saving is the amount of tax
revenue that the government has left after paying for its spending. The government receives T in tax revenue and spends G on goods and services. If T exceeds
G, the government runs a budget surplus because it receives more money than it
spends. This surplus of T – G represents public saving. If the government spends
more than it receives in tax revenue, then G is larger than T. In this case, the
government runs a budget deficit, and public saving T – G is a negative number.
Now consider how these accounting identities are related to financial markets.
The equation S = I reveals an important fact: For the economy as a whole, saving must
be equal to investment. Yet this fact raises some important questions: What mechanisms lie behind this identity? What coordinates those people who are deciding
how much to save and those people who are deciding how much to invest? The
answer is the financial system. The bond market, the stock market, banks, mutual
funds, and other financial markets and intermediaries stand between the two
sides of the S = I equation. They take in the nation’s saving and direct it to the
nation’s investment.
private saving
the income that
households have left
after paying for taxes and
consumption
public saving
the tax revenue that the
government has left after
paying for its spending
budget surplus
an excess of tax revenue
over government
spending
budget deficit
a shortfall of tax revenue
from government
spending
The Meaning of Saving and Investment
The terms saving and investment can sometimes be confusing. Most people use
these terms casually and sometimes interchangeably. By contrast, the macroeconomists who put together the national income accounts use these terms carefully
and distinctly.
Consider an example. Suppose that Larry earns more than he spends and
deposits his unspent income in a bank or uses it to buy some stock or a bond
from a corporation. Because Larry’s income exceeds his consumption, he adds to
the nation’s saving. Larry might think of himself as “investing” his money, but a
macroeconomist would call Larry’s act saving rather than investment.
In the language of macroeconomics, investment refers to the purchase of new
capital, such as equipment or buildings. When Moe borrows from the bank to
build himself a new house, he adds to the nation’s investment. (Remember, the
purchase of a new house is the one form of household spending that is investment rather than consumption.) Similarly, when the Curly Corporation sells some
stock and uses the proceeds to build a new factory, it also adds to the nation’s
investment.
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Although the accounting identity S = I shows that saving and investment are
equal for the economy as a whole, this does not have to be true for every individual household or firm. Larry’s saving can be greater than his investment, and
he can deposit the excess in a bank. Moe’s saving can be less than his investment,
and he can borrow the shortfall from a bank. Banks and other financial institutions make these individual differences between saving and investment possible
by allowing one person’s saving to finance another person’s investment.
QUICK QUIZ Define private saving, public saving, national saving, and investment.
How are they related?
The Market for Loanable Funds
market for loanable
funds
the market in which those
who want to save supply
funds and those who
want to borrow to invest
demand funds
Having discussed some of the important financial institutions in our economy and
the macroeconomic role of these institutions, we are ready to build a model of
financial markets. Our purpose in building this model is to explain how financial
markets coordinate the economy’s saving and investment. The model also gives
us a tool with which we can analyze various government policies that influence
saving and investment.
To keep things simple, we assume that the economy has only one financial
market, called the market for loanable funds. All savers go to this market to
deposit their saving, and all borrowers go to this market to take out their loans.
Thus, the term loanable funds refers to all income that people have chosen to save
and lend out, rather than use for their own consumption, and to the amount that
investors have chosen to borrow to fund new investment projects. In the market
for loanable funds, there is one interest rate, which is both the return to saving
and the cost of borrowing.
The assumption of a single financial market, of course, is not literally true. As
we have seen, the economy has many types of financial institutions. But as we
discussed in Chapter 2, the art in building an economic model is simplifying the
world in order to explain it. For our purposes here, we can ignore the diversity of
financial institutions and assume that the economy has a single financial market.
Supply and Demand for Loanable Funds
The economy’s market for loanable funds, like other markets in the economy, is
governed by supply and demand. To understand how the market for loanable
funds operates, therefore, we first look at the sources of supply and demand in
that market.
The supply of loanable funds comes from people who have some extra income
they want to save and lend out. This lending can occur directly, such as when a
household buys a bond from a firm, or it can occur indirectly, such as when a
household makes a deposit in a bank, which in turn uses the funds to make loans.
In both cases, saving is the source of the supply of loanable funds.
The demand for loanable funds comes from households and firms who wish to
borrow to make investments. This demand includes families taking out mortgages
to buy new homes. It also includes firms borrowing to buy new equipment or
build factories. In both cases, investment is the source of the demand for loanable funds.
The interest rate is the price of a loan. It represents the amount that borrowers
pay for loans and the amount that lenders receive on their saving. Because a high
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Interest
Rate
SAVING, INVESTMENT, AND THE FINANCIAL SYSTEM
Figure
Supply
269
1
The Market for Loanable Funds
5%
Demand
0
$1,200
Loanable Funds
(in billions of dollars)
The interest rate in the economy
adjusts to balance the supply and
demand for loanable funds. The
supply of loanable funds comes
from national saving, including
both private saving and public
saving. The demand for loanable
funds comes from firms and
households that want to borrow
for purposes of investment. Here
the equilibrium interest rate is
5 percent, and $1,200 billion of
loanable funds are supplied and
demanded.
interest rate makes borrowing more expensive, the quantity of loanable funds
demanded falls as the interest rate rises. Similarly, because a high interest rate
makes saving more attractive, the quantity of loanable funds supplied rises as the
interest rate rises. In other words, the demand curve for loanable funds slopes
downward, and the supply curve for loanable funds slopes upward.
Figure 1 shows the interest rate that balances the supply and demand for loanable funds. In the equilibrium shown, the interest rate is 5 percent, and the quantity
of loanable funds demanded and the quantity of loanable funds supplied both
equal $1,200 billion.
The adjustment of the interest rate to the equilibrium level occurs for the usual
reasons. If the interest rate were lower than the equilibrium level, the quantity
of loanable funds supplied would be less than the quantity of loanable funds
demanded. The resulting shortage of loanable funds would encourage lenders
to raise the interest rate they charge. A higher interest rate would encourage saving (thereby increasing the quantity of loanable funds supplied) and discourage
borrowing for investment (thereby decreasing the quantity of loanable funds
demanded). Conversely, if the interest rate were higher than the equilibrium
level, the quantity of loanable funds supplied would exceed the quantity of loanable funds demanded. As lenders competed for the scarce borrowers, interest rates
would be driven down. In this way, the interest rate approaches the equilibrium
level at which the supply and demand for loanable funds exactly balance.
Recall that economists distinguish between the real interest rate and the
nominal interest rate. The nominal interest rate is the interest rate as usually
reported—the monetary return to saving and the monetary cost of borrowing. The
real interest rate is the nominal interest rate corrected for inflation; it equals the
nominal interest rate minus the inflation rate. Because inflation erodes the value
of money over time, the real interest rate more accurately reflects the real return
to saving and the real cost of borrowing. Therefore, the supply and demand for
loanable funds depend on the real (rather than nominal) interest rate, and the
equilibrium in Figure 1 should be interpreted as determining the real interest rate
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in the economy. For the rest of this chapter, when you see the term interest rate,
you should remember that we are talking about the real interest rate.
This model of the supply and demand for loanable funds shows that financial
markets work much like other markets in the economy. In the market for milk,
for instance, the price of milk adjusts so that the quantity of milk supplied balances the quantity of milk demanded. In this way, the invisible hand coordinates
the behavior of dairy farmers and the behavior of milk drinkers. Once we realize
that saving represents the supply of loanable funds and investment represents the
demand, we can see how the invisible hand coordinates saving and investment.
When the interest rate adjusts to balance supply and demand in the market for
loanable funds, it coordinates the behavior of people who want to save (the suppliers of loanable funds) and the behavior of people who want to invest (the
demanders of loanable funds).
We can now use this analysis of the market for loanable funds to examine
various government policies that affect the economy’s saving and investment.
Because this model is just supply and demand in a particular market, we analyze
any policy using the three steps discussed in Chapter 4. First, we decide whether
the policy shifts the supply curve or the demand curve. Second, we determine the
direction of the shift. Third, we use the supply-and-demand diagram to see how
the equilibrium changes.
Policy 1: Saving Incentives
American families save a smaller fraction of their incomes than their counterparts
in many other countries, such as Japan and Germany. Although the reasons for
these international differences are unclear, many U.S. policymakers view the low
level of U.S. saving as a major problem. One of the Ten Principles of Economics in
Chapter 1 is that a country’s standard of living depends on its ability to produce
goods and services. And as we discussed in the preceding chapter, saving is an
important long-run determinant of a nation’s productivity. If the United States
could somehow raise its saving rate to the level that prevails in other countries,
the growth rate of GDP would increase, and over time, U.S. citizens would enjoy
a higher standard of living.
Another of the Ten Principles of Economics is that people respond to incentives.
Many economists have used this principle to suggest that the low saving rate in
the United States is at least partly attributable to tax laws that discourage saving.
The U.S. federal government, as well as many state governments, collects revenue
by taxing income, including interest and dividend income. To see the effects of
this policy, consider a 25-year-old who saves $1,000 and buys a 30-year bond
that pays an interest rate of 9 percent. In the absence of taxes, the $1,000 grows to
$13,268 when the individual reaches age 55. Yet if that interest is taxed at a rate
of, say, 33 percent, then the after-tax interest rate is only 6 percent. In this case, the
$1,000 grows to only $5,743 after 30 years. The tax on interest income substantially
reduces the future payoff from current saving and, as a result, reduces the incentive for people to save.
In response to this problem, many economists and lawmakers have proposed
reforming the tax code to encourage greater saving. For example, one proposal is
to expand eligibility for special accounts, such as Individual Retirement Accounts,
that allow people to shelter some of their saving from taxation. Let’s consider the
effect of such a saving incentive on the market for loanable funds, as illustrated in
Figure 2. We analyze this policy following our three steps.
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Interest
Rate
Supply, S1
SAVING, INVESTMENT, AND THE FINANCIAL SYSTEM
S2
Figure
271
2
Saving Incentives Increase the
Supply of Loanable Funds
1. Tax incentives for
saving increase the
supply of loanable
funds . . .
5%
4%
2. . . . which
reduces the
equilibrium
interest rate . . .
0
Demand
$1,200
$1,600
Loanable Funds
(in billions of dollars)
3. . . . and raises the equilibrium
quantity of loanable funds.
A change in the tax laws to
encourage Americans to save
more would shift the supply
of loanable funds to the right
from S1 to S2. As a result, the
equilibrium interest rate would
fall, and the lower interest rate
would stimulate investment.
Here the equilibrium interest rate
falls from 5 percent to 4 percent,
and the equilibrium quantity
of loanable funds saved and
invested rises from $1,200 billion
to $1,600 billion.
First, which curve would this policy affect? Because the tax change would
alter the incentive for households to save at any given interest rate, it would affect
the quantity of loanable funds supplied at each interest rate. Thus, the supply of
loanable funds would shift. The demand for loanable funds would remain the
same because the tax change would not directly affect the amount that borrowers
want to borrow at any given interest rate.
Second, which way would the supply curve shift? Because saving would be
taxed less heavily than under current law, households would increase their saving
by consuming a smaller fraction of their income. Households would use this additional saving to increase their deposits in banks or to buy more bonds. The supply
of loanable funds would increase, and the supply curve would shift to the right
from S1 to S2, as shown in Figure 2.
Finally, we can compare the old and new equilibria. In the figure, the increased
supply of loanable funds reduces the interest rate from 5 percent to 4 percent. The
lower interest rate raises the quantity of loanable funds demanded from $1,200
billion to $1,600 billion. That is, the shift in the supply curve moves the market
equilibrium along the demand curve. With a lower cost of borrowing, households
and firms are motivated to borrow more to finance greater investment. Thus, if a
reform of the tax laws encouraged greater saving, the result would be lower interest rates
and greater investment.
This analysis of the effects of increased saving is widely accepted among
economists, but there is less consensus about what kinds of tax changes should
be enacted. Many economists endorse tax reform aimed at increasing saving to
stimulate investment and growth. Yet others are skeptical that these tax changes
would have much effect on national saving. These skeptics also doubt the equity
of the proposed reforms. They argue that, in many cases, the benefits of the tax
changes would accrue primarily to the wealthy, who are least in need of tax relief.
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PART V
Figure
THE REAL ECONOMY IN THE LONG RUN
3
Interest
Rate
Investment Incentives Increase
the Demand for Loanable
Funds
If the passage of an investment
tax credit encouraged firms to
invest more, the demand for
loanable funds would increase.
As a result, the equilibrium
interest rate would rise, and
the higher interest rate would
stimulate saving. Here, when the
demand curve shifts from D1 to
D2, the equilibrium interest rate
rises from 5 percent to 6 percent,
and the equilibrium quantity
of loanable funds saved and
invested rises from $1,200 billion
to $1,400 billion.
Supply
1. An investment
tax credit
increases the
demand for
loanable funds . . .
6%
5%
2. . . . which
raises the
equilibrium
interest rate . . .
D2
Demand, D1
0
$1,200
$1,400
Loanable Funds
(in billions of dollars)
3. . . . and raises the equilibrium
quantity of loanable funds.
Policy 2: Investment Incentives
Suppose that Congress passed a tax reform aimed at making investment more
attractive. In essence, this is what Congress does when it institutes an investment
tax credit, which it does from time to time. An investment tax credit gives a tax
advantage to any firm building a new factory or buying a new piece of equipment.
Let’s consider the effect of such a tax reform on the market for loanable funds, as
illustrated in Figure 3.
First, would the law affect supply or demand? Because the tax credit would
reward firms that borrow and invest in new capital, it would alter investment at
any given interest rate and, thereby, change the demand for loanable funds. By
contrast, because the tax credit would not affect the amount that households save
at any given interest rate, it would not affect the supply of loanable funds.
Second, which way would the demand curve shift? Because firms would have
an incentive to increase investment at any interest rate, the quantity of loanable
funds demanded would be higher at any given interest rate. Thus, the demand
curve for loanable funds would move to the right, as shown by the shift from D1
to D2 in the figure.
Third, consider how the equilibrium would change. In Figure 3, the increased
demand for loanable funds raises the interest rate from 5 percent to 6 percent,
and the higher interest rate in turn increases the quantity of loanable funds supplied from $1,200 billion to $1,400 billion, as households respond by increasing
the amount they save. This change in household behavior is represented here as a
movement along the supply curve. Thus, if a reform of the tax laws encouraged greater
investment, the result would be higher interest rates and greater saving.
Policy 3: Government Budget Deficits and Surpluses
A perpetual topic of political debate is the status of the government budget.
Recall that a budget deficit is an excess of government spending over tax revenue.
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273
Governments finance budget deficits by borrowing in the bond market, and the
accumulation of past government borrowing is called the government debt. A budget surplus, an excess of tax revenue over government spending, can be used to
repay some of the government debt. If government spending exactly equals tax
revenue, the government is said to have a balanced budget.
Imagine that the government starts with a balanced budget and then, because
of a tax cut or a spending increase, starts running a budget deficit. We can analyze the effects of the budget deficit by following our three steps in the market for
loanable funds, as illustrated in Figure 4.
First, which curve shifts when the government starts running a budget deficit? Recall that national saving—the source of the supply of loanable funds—is
composed of private saving and public saving. A change in the government
budget balance represents a change in public saving and, thereby, in the supply
of loanable funds. Because the budget deficit does not influence the amount that
households and firms want to borrow to finance investment at any given interest
rate, it does not alter the demand for loanable funds.
Second, which way does the supply curve shift? When the government runs a
budget deficit, public saving is negative, and this reduces national saving. In other
words, when the government borrows to finance its budget deficit, it reduces
the supply of loanable funds available to finance investment by households and
firms. Thus, a budget deficit shifts the supply curve for loanable funds to the left
from S1 to S2, as shown in Figure 4.
When the government spends more than it receives in tax revenue, the resulting
budget deficit lowers national saving. The supply of loanable funds decreases, and
the equilibrium interest rate rises. Thus, when the government borrows to finance
its budget deficit, it crowds out households and firms that otherwise would borrow
to finance investment. Here, when the supply shifts from S1 to S2, the equilibrium
interest rate rises from 5 percent to 6 percent, and the equilibrium quantity of
loanable funds saved and invested falls from $1,200 billion to $800 billion.
Interest
Rate
S2
Figure
4
The Effect of a
Government Budget
Deficit
Supply, S1
6%
1. A budget deficit
decreases the supply
of loanable funds . . .
5%
2. . . . which
raises the
equilibrium
interest rate . . .
Demand
0
$800
$1,200
Loanable Funds
(in billions of dollars)
3. . . . and reduces the equilibrium
quantity of loanable funds.
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PART V
THE REAL ECONOMY IN THE LONG RUN
crowding out
a decrease in investment
that results from
government borrowing
Third, we can compare the old and new equilibria. In the figure, when the
budget deficit reduces the supply of loanable funds, the interest rate rises from
5 percent to 6 percent. This higher interest rate then alters the behavior of the
households and firms that participate in the loan market. In particular, many
demanders of loanable funds are discouraged by the higher interest rate. Fewer
families buy new homes, and fewer firms choose to build new factories. The fall in
investment because of government borrowing is called crowding out and is represented in the figure by the movement along the demand curve from a quantity
of $1,200 billion in loanable funds to a quantity of $800 billion. That is, when the
government borrows to finance its budget deficit, it crowds out private borrowers
who are trying to finance investment.
Thus, the most basic lesson about budget deficits follows directly from their
effects on the supply and demand for loanable funds: When the government reduces
national saving by running a budget deficit, the interest rate rises, and investment falls.
Because investment is important for long-run economic growth, government
budget deficits reduce the economy’s growth rate.
Why, you might ask, does a budget deficit affect the supply of loanable funds,
rather than the demand for them? After all, the government finances a budget
deficit by selling bonds, thereby borrowing from the private sector. Why does
increased borrowing from the government shift the supply curve, while increased
borrowing by private investors shifts the demand curve? To answer this question,
we need to examine more precisely the meaning of “loanable funds.” The model
as presented here takes this term to mean the flow of resources available to fund private investment; thus, a government budget deficit reduces the supply of loanable
funds. If, instead, we had defined the term “loanable funds” to mean the flow of
resources available from private saving, then the government budget deficit would
increase demand rather than reduce supply. Changing the interpretation of the
term would cause a semantic change in how we described the model, but the
bottom line from the analysis would be the same: In either case, a budget deficit
increases the interest rate, thereby crowding out private borrowers who are relying on financial markets to fund private investment projects.
Now that we understand the impact of budget deficits, we can turn the analysis around and see that government budget surpluses have the opposite effects.
When government collects more in tax revenue than it spends, it saves the difference by retiring some of the outstanding government debt. This budget surplus,
or public saving, contributes to national saving. Thus, a budget surplus increases the
supply of loanable funds, reduces the interest rate, and stimulates investment. Higher
investment, in turn, means greater capital accumulation and more rapid economic
growth.
The History of U.S. Government Debt
How indebted is the U.S. government? The answer to this question varies substantially over time. Figure 5 shows the debt of the U.S. federal government
expressed as a percentage of U.S. GDP. It shows that the government debt has
fluctuated from zero in 1836 to 107 percent of GDP in 1945.
The behavior of the debt-GDP ratio is one gauge of what’s happening with the
government’s finances. Because GDP is a rough measure of the government’s tax
base, a declining debt-GDP ratio indicates that the government indebtedness is
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The debt of the U.S. federal government, expressed here as a percentage of GDP, has
varied throughout history. Wartime spending is typically associated with substantial
increases in government debt.
Figure
275
5
The U.S.
Government Debt
Source: U.S. Department of Treasury; U.S. Department of Commerce; and T. S. Berry, “Production and Population since 1789,”
Bostwick Paper No. 6, Richmond, 1988.
Percent
of GDP
120%
World War II
100
80
60
Revolutionary
War
40
Civil
War
World War I
Iraq War
20
0
1790
1810
1830
1850
1870
1890
1910
1930
1950
1970
1990
2010
shrinking relative to its ability to raise tax revenue. This suggests that the government is, in some sense, living within its means. By contrast, a rising debt-GDP
ratio means that the government indebtedness is increasing relative to its ability to
raise tax revenue. It is often interpreted as meaning that fiscal policy—government
spending and taxes—cannot be sustained forever at current levels.
Throughout history, the primary cause of fluctuations in government debt is
war. When wars occur, government spending on national defense rises substantially to pay for soldiers and military equipment. Taxes sometimes rise as well but
typically by much less than the increase in spending. The result is a budget deficit
and increasing government debt. When the war is over, government spending
declines, and the debt-GDP ratio starts declining as well.
There are two reasons to believe that debt financing of war is an appropriate
policy. First, it allows the government to keep tax rates smooth over time. Without
debt financing, tax rates would have to rise sharply during wars, and this would
cause a substantial decline in economic efficiency. Second, debt financing of wars
shifts part of the cost of wars to future generations, who will have to pay off the
government debt. This is arguably a fair distribution of the burden, for future
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PART V
THE REAL ECONOMY IN THE LONG RUN
generations get some of the benefit when one generation fights a war to defend
the nation against foreign aggressors.
One large increase in government debt that cannot be explained by war is the
increase that occurred beginning around 1980. When President Ronald Reagan took
office in 1981, he was committed to smaller government and lower taxes. Yet he
found cutting government spending to be more difficult politically than cutting taxes.
The result was the beginning of a period of large budget deficits that continued not
only through Reagan’s time in office but also for many years thereafter. As a result,
government debt rose from 26 percent of GDP in 1980 to 50 percent of GDP in 1993.
As we discussed earlier, government budget deficits reduce national saving,
investment, and long-run economic growth, and this is precisely why the rise in
government debt during the 1980s troubled many economists and policymakers.
When Bill Clinton moved into the Oval Office in 1993, deficit reduction was his
first major goal. Similarly, when the Republicans took control of Congress in 1995,
deficit reduction was high on their legislative agenda. Both of these efforts substantially reduced the size of the government budget deficit, and it eventually turned
into a surplus. As a result, by the late 1990s, the debt-GDP ratio was declining.
The debt-GDP ratio started rising again during the first few years of the George
W. Bush presidency, as the budget surplus turned into a budget deficit. There
were three reasons for this change. First, President Bush signed into law several
major tax cuts, which he had promised during the 2000 presidential campaign.
Second, in 2001, the economy experienced a recession (a reduction in economic
activity), which automatically decreased tax revenue and increased government
spending. Third, spending on homeland security following the September 11,
2001 attacks and the subsequent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan led to increases in
government spending.
Truly dramatic increase in the debt-GDP ratio started occurring in 2008, as
the economy experienced a financial crisis and a deep recession (a topic we
will be addressing more fully in coming chapters). The recession automatically
increased the budget deficit, and several policy measures passed by the Bush and
Obama administrations aimed at combating the recession reduced tax revenue
and increased government spending even more. In 2009 and 2010, the federal
government’s budget deficit was about 10 percent of GDP, the largest deficits
since World War II. The borrowing to finance these deficits led to the substantial
increase in the debt-GDP ratio shown in the figure. Putting the federal budget
back on a sustainable path with a stable or declining debt-GDP ratio is one of the
great policy challenges facing future generations of policymakers. ■
QUICK QUIZ If more Americans adopted a “live for today” approach to life, how
would this affect saving, investment, and the interest rate?
Conclusion
“Neither a borrower nor a lender be,” Polonius advises his son in Shakespeare’s
Hamlet. If everyone followed this advice, this chapter would have been unnecessary.
Few economists would agree with Polonius. In our economy, people borrow
and lend often, and usually for good reason. You may borrow one day to start
your own business or to buy a home. And people may lend to you in the hope that
the interest you pay will allow them to enjoy a more prosperous retirement. The
financial system has the job of coordinating all this borrowing and lending activity.
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277
In many ways, financial markets are like other markets in the economy. The
price of loanable funds—the interest rate—is governed by the forces of supply
and demand, just as other prices in the economy are. And we can analyze shifts
in supply or demand in financial markets as we do in other markets. One of the
Ten Principles of Economics introduced in Chapter 1 is that markets are usually a
good way to organize economic activity. This principle applies to financial markets as well. When financial markets bring the supply and demand for loanable
funds into balance, they help allocate the economy’s scarce resources to their most
efficient use.
In one way, however, financial markets are special. Financial markets, unlike
most other markets, serve the important role of linking the present and the
future. Those who supply loanable funds—savers—do so because they want to
convert some of their current income into future purchasing power. Those who
demand loanable funds—borrowers—do so because they want to invest today
in order to have additional capital in the future to produce goods and services.
Thus, well-functioning financial markets are important not only for current generations but also for future generations who will inherit many of the resulting
benefits.
SUMMAR Y
SUMMARY
• The U.S. financial system is made up of many
types of financial institutions, such as the bond
market, the stock market, banks, and mutual
funds. All these institutions act to direct the
resources of households that want to save some
of their income into the hands of households and
firms that want to borrow.
• National income accounting identities reveal
some important relationships among macroeconomic variables. In particular, for a closed economy, national saving must equal investment.
Financial institutions are the mechanism through
which the economy matches one person’s saving
with another person’s investment.
• The interest rate is determined by the supply
and demand for loanable funds. The supply
of loanable funds comes from households that
want to save some of their income and lend it
out. The demand for loanable funds comes from
households and firms that want to borrow for
investment. To analyze how any policy or event
affects the interest rate, one must consider how
it affects the supply and demand for loanable
funds.
• National saving equals private saving plus
public saving. A government budget deficit
represents negative public saving and, therefore,
reduces national saving and the supply of
loanable funds available to finance investment.
When a government budget deficit crowds out
investment, it reduces the growth of productivity
and GDP.
KEY CONC
C ONCEPTS
EPTS
financial system, p. 260
financial markets, p. 260
bond, p. 260
stock, p. 261
financial intermediaries, p. 262
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mutual fund, p. 263
national saving (saving), p. 266
private saving, p. 267
public saving, p. 267
budget surplus, p. 267
budget deficit, p. 267
market for loanable funds, p. 268
crowding out, p. 274
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QUEST IO
IONS
NS FOR
FO R REVIEW
R EVIEW
1. What is the role of the financial system? Name
and describe two markets that are part of the
financial system in the U.S. economy. Name and
describe two financial intermediaries.
2. Why is it important for people who own
stocks and bonds to diversify their holdings?
What type of financial institution makes
diversification easier?
3. What is national saving? What is private
saving? What is public saving? How are these
three variables related?
4. What is investment? How is it related to
national saving?
5. Describe a change in the tax code that might
increase private saving. If this policy were
implemented, how would it affect the market
for loanable funds?
6. What is a government budget deficit? How does
it affect interest rates, investment, and economic
growth?
PROBLEMS AND APPLICATIONS
APPLICATIO NS
1. For each of the following pairs, which bond
would you expect to pay a higher interest rate?
Explain.
a. a bond of the U.S. government or a bond of
an East European government
b. a bond that repays the principal in year 2015
or a bond that repays the principal in year
2040
c. a bond from Coca-Cola or a bond from a
software company you run in your garage
d. a bond issued by the federal government or a
bond issued by New York State
2. Many workers hold large amounts of stock
issued by the firms at which they work. Why
do you suppose companies encourage this
behavior? Why might a person not want to hold
stock in the company where he works?
3. Explain the difference between saving and
investment as defined by a macroeconomist.
Which of the following situations represent
investment? Saving? Explain.
a. Your family takes out a mortgage and buys a
new house.
b. You use your $200 paycheck to buy stock in
AT&T.
c. Your roommate earns $100 and deposits it in
her account at a bank.
d. You borrow $1,000 from a bank to buy a car
to use in your pizza delivery business.
4. Suppose GDP is $8 trillion, taxes are $1.5
trillion, private saving is $0.5 trillion, and public
saving is $0.2 trillion. Assuming this economy
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-026.indd 574
is closed, calculate consumption, government
purchases, national saving, and investment.
5. Economists in Funlandia, a closed economy,
have collected the following information about
the economy for a particular year:
Y = 10,000
C = 6,000
T = 1,500
G = 1,700
The economists also estimate that the
investment function is:
I = 3,300 – 100 r,
where r is the country’s real interest rate,
expressed as a percentage. Calculate private
saving, public saving, national saving,
investment, and the equilibrium real interest
rate.
6. Suppose that Intel is considering building a new
chip-making factory.
a. Assuming that Intel needs to borrow money
in the bond market, why would an increase
in interest rates affect Intel’s decision about
whether to build the factory?
b. If Intel has enough of its own funds to
finance the new factory without borrowing,
would an increase in interest rates still affect
Intel’s decision about whether to build the
factory? Explain.
7. Three students have each saved $1,000. Each
has an investment opportunity in which he or
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CHAPTER 13
she can invest up to $2,000. Here are the rates of
return on the students’ investment projects:
Harry
Ron
Hermione
5 percent
8 percent
20 percent
a. If borrowing and lending is prohibited, so
each student uses only his or her saving to
finance his or her own investment project,
how much will each student have a year later
when the project pays its return?
b. Now suppose their school opens up a
market for loanable funds in which students
can borrow and lend among themselves at
an interest rate r. What would determine
whether a student would choose to be a
borrower or lender in this market?
c. Among these three students, what would be
the quantity of loanable funds supplied and
quantity demanded at an interest rate of
7 percent? At 10 percent?
d. At what interest rate would the loanable
funds market among these three students
be in equilibrium? At this interest rate,
which student(s) would borrow, and which
student(s) would lend?
e. At the equilibrium interest rate, how much
does each student have a year later after
the investment projects pay their return
and loans have been repaid? Compare your
answers to those you gave in part (a). Who
benefits from the existence of the loanable
funds market—the borrowers or the lenders?
Is anyone worse off?
8. Suppose the government borrows $20 billion
more next year than this year.
a. Use a supply-and-demand diagram to
analyze this policy. Does the interest rate rise
or fall?
b. What happens to investment? To private
saving? To public saving? To national
saving? Compare the size of the changes
to the $20 billion of extra government
borrowing.
c. How does the elasticity of supply of loanable
funds affect the size of these changes?
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279
d. How does the elasticity of demand for
loanable funds affect the size of these
changes?
e. Suppose households believe that greater
government borrowing today implies higher
taxes to pay off the government debt in the
future. What does this belief do to private
saving and the supply of loanable funds
today? Does it increase or decrease the effects
you discussed in parts (a) and (b)?
9. In the summer of 2010, Congress passed a farreaching financial reform to prevent another
financial crisis like the one experienced in
2008–2009. Consider the following possibilities:
a. Suppose that, by requiring firms to comply
with strict regulations, the bill increases the
costs of investment. On a well-labeled graph,
show the consequences of the bill on the
market for loanable funds. Be sure to specify
changes in the equilibrium interest rate and
level of saving and investment. What are the
effects of the bill on long-run economic growth?
b. Suppose, on the other hand, that by
effectively regulating the financial system,
the bill increases savers’ confidence in the
financial system. Show the consequences of
the policy in this situation on a new graph,
again noting changes in the equilibrium
interest rate and level of saving and
investment. Again evaluate the effects on
long-run growth.
10. This chapter explains that investment can be
increased both by reducing taxes on private
saving and by reducing the government budget
deficit.
a. Why is it difficult to implement both of these
policies at the same time?
b. What would you need to know about private
saving to judge which of these two policies
would be a more effective way to raise
investment?
For further information on topics in this chapter,
additional problems, applications, examples, online
quizzes, and more, please visit our website at www
.cengage.com/economics/mankiw
g g
/
/
.
.cengage.com/economics/mankiw.
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The Basic Tools of
Finance
14
S
ometime in your life, you will have to deal with the economy’s financial system. You will deposit your savings in a bank account, or you will take out a
mortgage to buy a house. After you have a job, you will decide whether to
invest the funds in your retirement account in stocks, bonds, or other financial instruments. If you try to put together your own portfolio, you will have to
decide between buying stocks in established companies such as General Electric
or newer ones such as Google. And whenever you watch the evening news, you
will hear reports about whether the stock market is up or down, together with the
often feeble attempts to explain why the market behaves as it does.
If you reflect for a moment on the many financial decisions you will make during your life, you will see two related elements in almost all of them: time and
risk. As we saw in the preceding two chapters, the financial system coordinates
the economy’s saving and investment, which in turn are crucial determinants of
economic growth. Most fundamentally, the financial system concerns decisions
and actions we undertake today that will affect our lives in the future. But the
281
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finance
the field that studies how
people make decisions
regarding the allocation
of resources over time
and the handling of risk
future is unknown. When a person decides to allocate some saving, or a firm
decides to undertake an investment, the decision is based on a guess about the
likely result. The actual result, however, could end up being very different from
what was expected.
This chapter introduces some tools that help us understand the decisions that
people make as they participate in financial markets. The field of finance develops these tools in great detail, and you may choose to take courses that focus on
this topic. But because the financial system is so important to the functioning of
the economy, many of the basic insights of finance are central to understanding
how the economy works. The tools of finance may also help you think through
some of the decisions that you will make in your own life.
This chapter takes up three topics. First, we discuss how to compare sums of
money at different points in time. Second, we discuss how to manage risk. Third,
we build on our analysis of time and risk to examine what determines the value
of an asset, such as a share of stock.
Present Value: Measuring the Time Value of Money
present value
the amount of money
today that would be
needed, using prevailing
interest rates, to produce
a given future amount of
money
future value
the amount of money in
the future that an amount
of money today will yield,
given prevailing interest
rates
compounding
the accumulation of a
sum of money in, say, a
bank account, where the
interest earned remains
in the account to earn
additional interest in the
future
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-027.indd 578
Imagine that someone offers to give you $100 today or $100 in 10 years. Which
would you choose? This is an easy question. Getting $100 today is better because
you can always deposit the money in a bank, still have it in 10 years, and earn
interest on the $100 along the way. The lesson: Money today is more valuable than
the same amount of money in the future.
Now consider a harder question: Imagine that someone offers you $100 today
or $200 in 10 years. Which would you choose? To answer this question, you need
some way to compare sums of money from different points in time. Economists
do this with a concept called present value. The present value of any future sum
of money is the amount today that would be needed, at current interest rates, to
produce that future sum.
To learn how to use the concept of present value, let’s work through a couple
of simple examples:
Question: If you put $100 in a bank account today, how much will it be worth
in N years? That is, what will be the future value of this $100?
Answer: Let’s use r to denote the interest rate expressed in decimal form (so an
interest rate of 5 percent means r = 0.05). Suppose that interest is paid annually
and that the interest paid remains in the bank account to earn more interest—a
process called compounding. Then the $100 will become
(1 + r) × $100
after 1 year,
(1 + r) × (1 + r) × $100 = (1 + r)2 × $100
after 2 years,
(1 + r) × (1 + r) × (1 + r) × $100 = (1 + r)3 × $100
after 3 years, . . .
(1 + r) × $100
after N years.
N
For example, if we are investing at an interest rate of 5 percent for 10 years, then
the future value of the $100 will be (1.05)10 × $100, which is $163.
Question: Now suppose you are going to be paid $200 in N years. What is
the present value of this future payment? That is, how much would you have to
deposit in a bank right now to yield $200 in N years?
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Answer: To answer this question, just turn the previous answer on its head. In
the last question, we computed a future value from a present value by multiplying
by the factor (1 + r)N. To compute a present value from a future value, we divide
by the factor (1 + r)N. Thus, the present value of $200 in N years is $200/(1 + r)N.
If that amount is deposited in a bank today, after N years it would become
(1 + r)N × [$200/(1 + r)N], which is $200. For instance, if the interest rate is 5 percent, the present value of $200 in 10 years is $200/(1.05)10, which is $123. This
means that $123 deposited today in a bank account that earned 5 percent would
produce $200 after 10 years.
This illustrates the general formula:
• If r is the interest rate, then an amount X to be received in N years has a
present value of X/(1 + r)N.
Because the possibility of earning interest reduces the present value below the
amount X, the process of finding a present value of a future sum of money is
called discounting. This formula shows precisely how much future sums should
be discounted.
Let’s now return to our earlier question: Should you choose $100 today or $200
in 10 years? We can infer from our calculation of present value that if the interest rate is 5 percent, you should prefer the $200 in 10 years. The future $200 has
a present value of $123, which is greater than $100. You are better off waiting for
the future sum.
Notice that the answer to our question depends on the interest rate. If the interest rate were 8 percent, then the $200 in 10 years would have a present value of
$200/(1.08)10, which is only $93. In this case, you should take the $100 today. Why
should the interest rate matter for your choice? The answer is that the higher the
interest rate, the more you can earn by depositing your money in a bank, so the
more attractive getting $100 today becomes.
The concept of present value is useful in many applications, including the decisions that companies face when evaluating investment projects. For instance, imagine that General Motors is thinking about building a new factory. Suppose that the
factory will cost $100 million today and will yield the company $200 million in 10
years. Should General Motors undertake the project? You can see that this decision
is exactly like the one we have been studying. To make its decision, the company
will compare the present value of the $200 million return to the $100 million cost.
The company’s decision, therefore, will depend on the interest rate. If the interest rate is 5 percent, then the present value of the $200 million return from the
factory is $123 million, and the company will choose to pay the $100 million cost.
By contrast, if the interest rate is 8 percent, then the present value of the return
is only $93 million, and the company will decide to forgo the project. Thus, the
concept of present value helps explain why investment—and thus the quantity of
loanable funds demanded—declines when the interest rate rises.
Here is another application of present value: Suppose you win a milliondollar lottery and are given a choice between $20,000 a year for 50 years (totaling
$1,000,000) or an immediate payment of $400,000. Which would you choose? To
make the right choice, you need to calculate the present value of the stream of
payments. Let’s suppose the interest rate is 7 percent. After performing 50 calculations similar to those above (one calculation for each payment) and adding up
the results, you would learn that the present value of this million-dollar prize at
a 7 percent interest rate is only $276,000. You are better off picking the immediate
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FYI
The Magic of Compounding and
the Rule of 70
S
uppose you observe that one country has an average growth rate
of 1 percent per year, while another has an average growth rate
of 3 percent per year. At first, this might not seem like a big deal.
What difference can 2 percent make?
The answer is: a big difference. Growth rates that seem small
when written in percentage terms are large after they are compounded for many years.
Consider an example. Suppose that two college graduates—
Finn and Quinn—both take their first jobs at the age of 22 earning
$30,000 a year. Finn lives in an economy where all incomes grow
at 1 percent per year, while Quinn lives in one where incomes grow
at 3 percent per year. Straightforward calculations show what
happens. Forty years later, when both are 62 years old, Finn earns
$45,000 a year, while Quinn earns $98,000. Because of that difference of 2 percentage points in the growth rate, Quinn’s salary is
more than twice Finn’s.
An old rule of thumb, called the rule of 70, is helpful in understanding growth rates and the effects of compounding. According to the
rule of 70, if some variable grows at a rate of x percent per year, then
that variable doubles in approximately 70/x years. In Finn’s economy,
incomes grow at 1 percent per year, so it takes about 70 years for
incomes to double. In Quinn’s economy, incomes grow at 3 percent per
year, so it takes about 70/3, or 23, years for incomes to double.
The rule of 70 applies not only to a growing economy but also
to a growing savings account. Here is an example: In 1791, Ben
Franklin died and left $5,000 to be invested for a period of 200
years to benefit medical students and scientific research. If this
money had earned 7 percent per year (which would, in fact, have
been possible to do), the investment would have doubled in value
every 10 years. Over 200 years, it would have doubled 20 times.
At the end of 200 years of compounding, the investment would
have been worth 220 $5,000, which is about $5 billion. (In fact,
Franklin’s $5,000 grew to only $2 million over 200 years because
some of the money was spent along the way.)
As these examples show, growth rates and interest rates compounded over many years can lead to some spectacular results.
That is probably why Albert Einstein once called compounding “the
greatest mathematical discovery of all time.”
payment of $400,000. The million dollars may seem like more money, but the
future cash flows, once discounted to the present, are worth far less.
QUICK QUIZ The interest rate is 7 percent. What is the present value of $150 to be
received in 10 years?
Managing Risk
Life is full of gambles. When you go skiing, you risk breaking your leg in a fall.
When you drive to work, you risk a car accident. When you put some of your savings in the stock market, you risk a fall in stock prices. The rational response to
this risk is not necessarily to avoid it at any cost but to take it into account in your
decision making. Let’s consider how a person might do that.
Risk Aversion
risk aversion
a dislike of uncertainty
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-027.indd 580
Most people are risk averse. This means more than that people dislike bad things
happening to them. It means that they dislike bad things more than they like
comparable good things.
For example, suppose a friend offers you the following opportunity. He will
toss a coin. If it comes up heads, he will pay you $1,000. But if it comes up tails,
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you will have to pay him $1,000. Would you accept the bargain? You wouldn’t if
you were risk averse. For a risk-averse person, the pain of losing the $1,000 would
exceed the pleasure from winning $1,000.
Economists have developed models of risk aversion using the concept of utility,
which is a person’s subjective measure of well-being or satisfaction. Every level
of wealth provides a certain amount of utility, as shown by the utility function in
Figure 1. But the function exhibits the property of diminishing marginal utility:
The more wealth a person has, the less utility he gets from an additional dollar.
Thus, in the figure, the utility function gets flatter as wealth increases. Because
of diminishing marginal utility, the utility lost from losing the $1,000 bet is more
than the utility gained from winning it. As a result, people are risk averse.
Risk aversion provides the starting point for explaining various things we
observe in the economy. Let’s consider three of them: insurance, diversification,
and the risk-return trade-off.
The Markets for Insurance
One way to deal with risk is to buy insurance. The general feature of insurance
contracts is that a person facing a risk pays a fee to an insurance company, which
in return agrees to accept all or part of the risk. There are many types of insurance.
Car insurance covers the risk of your being in an auto accident, fire insurance
covers the risk that your house will burn down, health insurance covers the risk
that you might need expensive medical treatment, and life insurance covers the
risk that you will die and leave your family without your income. There is also
insurance against the risk of living too long: For a fee paid today, an insurance
company will pay you an annuity—a regular income every year until you die.
In a sense, every insurance contract is a gamble. It is possible that you will not
be in an auto accident, that your house will not burn down, and that you will not
need expensive medical treatment. In most years, you will pay the insurance company the premium and get nothing in return except peace of mind. Indeed, the
insurance company is counting on the fact that most people will not make claims
on their policies; otherwise, it couldn’t pay out the large claims to the unlucky few
and still stay in business.
From the standpoint of the economy as a whole, the role of insurance is not
to eliminate the risks inherent in life but to spread them around more efficiently.
Utility
Figure
Utility gain
from winning
$1,000
The Utility Function
Utility loss
from losing
$1,000
0
$1,000
loss
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-027.indd 581
1
Current
wealth
Wealth
This utility function shows how
utility, a subjective measure
of satisfaction, depends on
wealth. As wealth rises, the
utility function becomes flatter,
reflecting the property of
diminishing marginal utility.
Because of diminishing marginal
utility, a $1,000 loss decreases
utility by more than a $1,000 gain
increases it.
$1,000
gain
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Consider fire insurance, for instance. Owning fire insurance does not reduce the
risk of losing your home in a fire. But if that unlucky event occurs, the insurance
company compensates you. The risk, rather than being borne by you alone, is
shared among the thousands of insurance-company shareholders. Because people
are risk averse, it is easier for 10,000 people to bear 1/10,000 of the risk than for
one person to bear the entire risk himself.
The markets for insurance suffer from two types of problems that impede their
ability to spread risk. One problem is adverse selection: A high-risk person is more
likely to apply for insurance than a low-risk person because a high-risk person
would benefit more from insurance protection. A second problem is moral hazard:
After people buy insurance, they have less incentive to be careful about their
risky behavior because the insurance company will cover much of the resulting
losses. Insurance companies are aware of these problems, but they cannot fully
guard against them. An insurance company cannot perfectly distinguish between
high-risk and low-risk customers, and it cannot monitor all of its customers’ risky
behavior. The price of insurance reflects the actual risks that the insurance company will face after the insurance is bought. The high price of insurance is why
some people, especially those who know themselves to be low-risk, decide against
buying it and, instead, endure some of life’s uncertainty on their own.
Diversification of Firm-Specific Risk
diversification
the reduction of risk
achieved by replacing a
single risk with a large
number of smaller,
unrelated risks
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-027.indd 582
In 2002, Enron, a large and once widely respected company, went bankrupt amid
accusations of fraud and accounting irregularities. Several of the company’s top
executives were prosecuted and ended up going to prison. The saddest part of the
story, however, involved thousands of lower-level employees. Not only did they
lose their jobs, but many lost their life savings as well. The employees had about
two-thirds of their retirement funds in Enron stock, which became worthless.
If there is one piece of practical advice that finance offers to risk-averse people, it is this: “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.” You may have heard this
before, but finance has turned this folk wisdom into a science. It goes by the name
diversification.
The market for insurance is one example of diversification. Imagine a town
with 10,000 homeowners, each facing the risk of a house fire. If someone starts
an insurance company and each person in town becomes both a shareholder and
a policyholder of the company, they all reduce their risk through diversification.
Each person now faces 1/10,000 of the risk of 10,000 possible fires, rather than the
entire risk of a single fire in his own home. Unless the entire town catches fire at
the same time, the downside that each person faces is much smaller.
When people use their savings to buy financial assets, they can also reduce risk
through diversification. A person who buys stock in a company is placing a bet
on the future profitability of that company. That bet is often quite risky because
companies’ fortunes are hard to predict. Microsoft evolved from a start-up by
some geeky teenagers to one of the world’s most valuable companies in only a
few years; Enron went from one of the world’s most respected companies to an
almost worthless one in only a few months. Fortunately, a shareholder need not
tie his own fortune to that of any single company. Risk can be reduced by placing
a large number of small bets, rather than a small number of large ones.
Figure 2 shows how the risk of a portfolio of stocks depends on the number of
stocks in the portfolio. Risk is measured here with a statistic called the standard
deviation, which you may have learned about in a math or statistics class. The
standard deviation measures the volatility of a variable—that is, how much the
variable is likely to fluctuate. The higher the standard deviation of a portfolio’s
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CHAPTER 14
Risk (standard
deviation of
portfolio return)
(More risk)
1. Increasing the number of stocks in a
portfolio reduces firm-specific risk through
diversification . . .
49
2. . . . but
market risk
remains.
20
(Less risk)
0 1 2 4 6 8 10
20
30
40
Number of
Stocks in
Portfolio
return, the more volatile its return is likely to be, and the riskier it is that someone
holding the portfolio will fail to get the return that he or she expected.
The figure shows that the risk of a stock portfolio falls substantially as the
number of stocks increases. For a portfolio with a single stock, the standard deviation is 49 percent. Going from 1 stock to 10 stocks eliminates about half the risk.
Going from 10 to 20 stocks reduces the risk by another 13 percent. As the number
of stocks continues to increase, risk continues to fall, although the reductions in
risk after 20 or 30 stocks are small.
Notice that it is impossible to eliminate all risk by increasing the number
of stocks in the portfolio. Diversification can eliminate firm-specific risk—the
uncertainty associated with the specific companies. But diversification cannot
eliminate market risk—the uncertainty associated with the entire economy,
which affects all companies traded on the stock market. For example, when the
economy goes into a recession, most companies experience falling sales, reduced
profit, and low stock returns. Diversification reduces the risk of holding stocks,
but it does not eliminate it.
The Trade-off between Risk and Return
THE BASIC TOOLS OF FINANCE
Figure
287
2
Diversification Reduces Risk
This figure shows how the risk of
a portfolio, measured here with
a statistic called the standard
deviation, depends on the
number of stocks in the portfolio.
The investor is assumed to put an
equal percentage of his portfolio
in each of the stocks. Increasing
the number of stocks reduces, but
does not eliminate, the amount
of risk in a stock portfolio.
Source: Adapted from Meir Statman, “How Many
Stocks Make a Diversified Portfolio?” Journal of
Financial and Quantitative Analysis 22 (September
1987): 353–364.
firm-specific risk
risk that affects only a
single company
market risk
risk that affects all
companies in the stock
market
One of the Ten Principles of Economics in Chapter 1 is that people face trade-offs.
The trade-off that is most relevant for understanding financial decisions is the
trade-off between risk and return.
As we have seen, there are risks inherent in holding stocks, even in a diversified portfolio. But risk-averse people are willing to accept this uncertainty because
they are compensated for doing so. Historically, stocks have offered much higher
rates of return than alternative financial assets, such as bonds and bank savings
accounts. Over the past two centuries, stocks offered an average real return of
about 8 percent per year, while short-term government bonds paid a real return
of only 3 percent per year.
When deciding how to allocate their savings, people have to decide how much
risk they are willing to undertake to earn a higher return. For example, consider a
person choosing how to allocate his portfolio between two asset classes:
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THE REAL ECONOMY IN THE LONG RUN
• The first asset class is a diversified group of risky stocks, with an average
•
return of 8 percent and a standard deviation of 20 percent. (You may recall
from a math or statistics class that a normal random variable stays within
two standard deviations of its average about 95 percent of the time. Thus,
while actual returns are centered around 8 percent, they typically vary from
a gain of 48 percent to a loss of 32 percent.)
The second asset class is a safe alternative, with a return of 3 percent and a
standard deviation of zero. The safe alternative can be either a bank savings
account or a government bond.
Figure 3 illustrates the trade-off between risk and return. Each point in this figure
represents a particular allocation of a portfolio between risky stocks and the safe
asset. The figure shows that the more the individual puts into stocks, the greater
is both the risk and the return.
Acknowledging the risk-return trade-off does not, by itself, tell us what a person should do. The choice of a particular combination of risk and return depends
on a person’s risk aversion, which reflects a person’s own preferences. But it is
important for stockholders to recognize that the higher average return that they
enjoy comes at the price of higher risk.
QUICK QUIZ Describe three ways that a risk-averse person might reduce the risk he
faces.
Asset Valuation
Now that we have developed a basic understanding of the two building blocks of
finance—time and risk—let’s apply this knowledge. This section considers a simple question: What determines the price of a share of stock? Like most prices, the
answer is supply and demand. But that is not the end of the story. To understand
stock prices, we need to think more deeply about what determines a person’s
willingness to pay for a share of stock.
Figure
3
The Trade-off between
Risk and Return
When people increase the
percentage of their savings
that they have invested in
stocks, they increase the
average return they can
expect to earn, but they also
increase the risks they face.
Return
(percent
per year)
8
25%
stocks
100%
stocks
50%
stocks
No
stocks
3
0
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75%
stocks
5
10
15
20
Risk
(standard
deviation)
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Fundamental Analysis
Let’s imagine that you have decided to put 60 percent of your savings into stock,
and to achieve diversification, you have decided to buy twenty different stocks. If
you open up the newspaper, you will find thousands of stocks listed. How should
you pick the twenty for your portfolio?
When you buy stock, you are buying shares in a business. To decide which
businesses you want to own, it is natural to consider two things: the value of that
share of the business and the price at which the shares are being sold. If the price
is less than the value, the stock is said to be undervalued. If the price is more than
the value, the stock is said to be overvalued. If the price and the value are equal, the
stock is said to be fairly valued. When choosing twenty stocks for your portfolio,
you should prefer undervalued stocks. In these cases, you are getting a bargain by
paying less than the business is worth.
This is easier said than done. Learning the price is easy: You can just look it up
in the newspaper. Determining the value of the business is the hard part. The term
fundamental analysis refers to the detailed analysis of a company to estimate its
value. Many Wall Street firms hire stock analysts to conduct such fundamental
analysis and offer advice about which stocks to buy.
The value of a stock to a stockholder is what he gets out of owning it, which
includes the present value of the stream of dividend payments and the final sale
price. Recall that dividends are the cash payments that a company makes to its
shareholders. A company’s ability to pay dividends, as well as the value of the
stock when the stockholder sells his shares, depends on the company’s ability to
earn profits. Its profitability, in turn, depends on a large number of factors: the
demand for its product, how much competition it faces, how much capital it has in
place, whether its workers are unionized, how loyal its customers are, what kinds
of government regulations and taxes it faces, and so on. The goal of fundamental
analysis is to take all these factors into account to determine how much a share of
stock in the company is worth.
If you want to rely on fundamental analysis to pick a stock portfolio, there are
three ways to do it. One way is to do all the necessary research yourself, such as by
reading through companies’ annual reports. A second way is to rely on the advice
of Wall Street analysts. A third way is to buy a mutual fund, which has a manager
who conducts fundamental analysis and makes the decision for you.
fundamental
analysis
the study of a company’s
accounting statements
and future prospects to
determine its value
The Efficient Markets Hypothesis
There is another way to choose twenty stocks for your portfolio: Pick them randomly by, for instance, putting the stock pages on your bulletin board and throwing
darts at the page. This may sound crazy, but there is reason to believe that it won’t
lead you too far astray. That reason is called the efficient markets hypothesis.
To understand this theory, the starting point is to acknowledge that each company listed on a major stock exchange is followed closely by many money managers, such as the individuals who run mutual funds. Every day, these managers
monitor news stories and conduct fundamental analysis to try to determine the
stock’s value. Their job is to buy a stock when its price falls below its fundamental
value and to sell it when its price rises above its fundamental value.
The second piece to the efficient markets hypothesis is that the equilibrium of
supply and demand sets the market price. This means that, at the market price,
the number of shares being offered for sale exactly equals the number of shares
that people want to buy. In other words, at the market price, the number of people who think the stock is overvalued exactly balances the number of people who
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-027.indd 585
efficient markets
hypothesis
the theory that asset
prices reflect all publicly
available information
about the value of an
asset
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in the news
A Cartoonist’s Guide to Stock Picking
The creator of the comic strip Dilbert (who was an economics major in
college) offers some financial advice.
Betting on the
Bad Guys
BY SCOTT ADAMS
W
hen I heard that BP was destroying a
big portion of Earth, with no serious
discussion of cutting their dividend, I had
two thoughts: 1) I hate them, and 2) This
would be an excellent time to buy their
stock. And so I did. Although I should have
waited a week.
People ask me how it feels to take the
side of moral bankruptcy. Answer: Pretty
good! Thanks for asking. How’s it feel to be
a disgruntled victim?
informational
efficiency
the description of asset
prices that rationally
reflect all available
information
random walk
the path of a variable
whose changes are
impossible to predict
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-027.indd 586
I have a theory that you should invest in
the companies that you hate the most. The
usual reason for hating a company is that
the company is so powerful it can make you
balance your wallet on your nose while you
beg for their product. Oil companies such
as BP don’t actually make you beg for oil,
but I think we all realize that they could. It’s
implied in the price of gas.
I hate BP, but I admire them too, in the
same way I respect the work ethic of serial
killers. I remember the day I learned that
BP was using a submarine . . . with a web
cam . . . a mile under the sea . . . to feed live
video of their disaster to the world. My mind
screamed “STOP TRYING TO MAKE ME
LOVE YOU! MUST . . . THINK . . . OF DEAD
BIRDS TO MAINTAIN ANGER!” The geeky
side of me has a bit of a crush on them, but
I still hate them for turning Florida into a
dip stick. . . .
Perhaps you think it’s absurd to invest in
companies just because you hate them. But
let’s compare my method to all of the other
ways you could decide where to invest.
Technical Analysis
Technical analysis involves studying graphs
of stock movement over time as a way to
predict future moves. It’s a widely used
method on Wall Street, and it has exactly
the same scientific validity as pretending
think it’s undervalued. As judged by the typical person in the market, all stocks
are fairly valued all the time.
According to this theory, the stock market exhibits informational efficiency:
It reflects all available information about the value of the asset. Stock prices change
when information changes. When good news about the company’s prospects
becomes public, the value and the stock price both rise. When the company’s prospects deteriorate, the value and price both fall. But at any moment in time, the market price is the best guess of the company’s value based on available information.
One implication of the efficient markets hypothesis is that stock prices should
follow a random walk. This means that the changes in stock prices are impossible
to predict from available information. If, based on publicly available information,
a person could predict that a stock price would rise by 10 percent tomorrow, then
the stock market must be failing to incorporate that information today. According
to this theory, the only thing that can move stock prices is news that changes the
market’s perception of the company’s value. But news must be unpredictable—
otherwise, it wouldn’t really be news. For the same reason, changes in stock prices
should be unpredictable.
If the efficient markets hypothesis is correct, then there is little point in spending many hours studying the business page to decide which twenty stocks to add
to your portfolio. If prices reflect all available information, no stock is a better buy
than any other. The best you can do is buy a diversified portfolio.
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you are a witch and forecasting market
moves from chicken droppings.
Investing in Well-Managed
Companies
When companies make money, we assume
they are well-managed. That perception
is reinforced by the CEOs of those companies who are happy to tell you all the
clever things they did to make it happen.
The problem with relying on this source of
information is that CEOs are highly skilled
in a special form of lying called leadership.
Leadership involves convincing employees
and investors that the CEO has something
called a vision, a type of optimistic hallucination that can come true only in an
environment in which the CEO is massively
overcompensated and the employees have
learned to be less selfish.
Track Record
Perhaps you can safely invest in companies
that have a long track record of being profitable. That sounds safe and reasonable,
right? The problem is that every investment
expert knows two truths about investing:
1) Past performance is no indication of
future performance. 2) You need to consider
a company’s track record.
Right, yes, those are opposites. And it’s
pretty much all that anyone knows about
investing. An investment professional can
argue for any sort of investment decision by
selectively ignoring either point 1 or 2. And
for that you will pay the investment professional 1% to 2% of your portfolio value
annually, no matter the performance.
Invest in Companies You Love
Instead of investing in companies you hate,
as I have suggested, perhaps you could
invest in companies you love. I once hired
professional money managers at Wells
Fargo to do essentially that for me. As part
of their service they promised to listen to the
dopey-happy hallucinations of professional
liars (CEOs) and be gullible on my behalf.
The pros at Wells Fargo bought for my
portfolio Enron, WorldCom, and a number
of other much-loved companies that soon
went out of business. For that, I hate Wells
THE BASIC TOOLS OF FINANCE
291
Fargo. But I sure wish I had bought stock
in Wells Fargo at the time I hated them the
most, because Wells Fargo itself performed
great. See how this works?
Do Your Own Research
I didn’t let Wells Fargo manage my entire
portfolio, thanks to my native distrust of all
humanity. For the other half of my portfolio
I did my own research. (Imagine a field of
red flags, all wildly waving. I didn’t notice
them.) My favorite investment was in a
company I absolutely loved. I loved their
business model. I loved their mission. I loved
how they planned to make our daily lives
easier. They were simply adorable as they
struggled to change an entrenched industry.
Their leaders reported that the company had
finally turned cash positive in one key area,
thus validating their business model, and
proving that the future was rosy. I doubled
down. The company was Webvan, may it
rest in peace.
(This would be a good time to remind
you not to make investment decisions based
on the wisdom of cartoonists.)
Source: The Wall Street Journal, June 5, 2010.
Random Walks and Index Funds
The efficient markets hypothesis is a theory about how financial markets work.
The theory is probably not completely true: As we discuss in the next section,
there is reason to doubt that stockholders are always rational and that stock prices
are informationally efficient at every moment. Nonetheless, the efficient markets
hypothesis does much better as a description of the world than you might think.
There is much evidence that stock prices, even if not exactly a random walk,
are very close to it. For example, you might be tempted to buy stocks that have
recently risen and avoid stocks that have recently fallen (or perhaps just the
opposite). But statistical studies have shown that following such trends (or bucking them) fails to outperform the market. The correlation between how well a
stock does one year and how well it does the following year is almost exactly zero.
Some of the best evidence in favor of the efficient markets hypothesis comes
from the performance of index funds. An index fund is a mutual fund that buys
all the stocks in a given stock index. The performance of these funds can be compared with that of actively managed mutual funds, where a professional portfolio manager picks stocks based on extensive research and alleged expertise. In
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© SCOTT ADAMS/DIST. BY UNITED FEATURE
SYNDICATE, INC.
292
essence, an index fund buys all stocks, whereas active funds are supposed to buy
only the best stocks.
In practice, active managers usually fail to beat index funds. For example, in
the fifteen years ending June 2010, 75 percent of stock mutual funds performed
worse than a broadly based index fund holding all stocks traded on U.S. stock
exchanges. Over this period, the average annual return on stock funds fell short
of the return on the index fund by 1.25 percentage points. Most active portfolio
managers failed to beat the market because they trade more frequently, incurring
in the news
Is the Efficient Markets Hypothesis Kaput?
In 2008 and 2009, the U.S. economy experienced a financial crisis that
started with a substantial decline in house prices and widespread defaults
on mortgages. Some observers say the crisis should cause us to reject the
efficient market hypothesis. Economist Jeremy Siegel is not convinced.
Efficient Market
Theory and the Crisis
BY JEREMY SIEGEL
F
inancial journalist and best-selling author
Roger Lowenstein didn’t mince words in
a piece for the Washington Post this summer:
“The upside of the current Great Recession is
that it could drive a stake through the heart
of the academic nostrum known as the efficient-market hypothesis.” In a similar vein,
the highly respected money manager and
financial analyst Jeremy Grantham wrote
in his quarterly letter last January: “The
incredibly inaccurate efficient market theory
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[caused] a lethally dangerous combination of
asset bubbles, lax controls, pernicious incentives and wickedly complicated instruments
[that] led to our current plight.”
But is the Efficient Market Hypothesis
(EMH) really responsible for the current
crisis? The answer is no. The EMH, originally
put forth by Eugene Fama of the University
of Chicago in the 1960s, states that the
prices of securities reflect all known information that impacts their value. The hypothesis does not claim that the market price is
always right. On the contrary, it implies that
the prices in the market are mostly wrong,
but at any given moment it is not at all easy
to say whether they are too high or too low.
The fact that the best and brightest on Wall
Street made so many mistakes shows how
hard it is to beat the market.
This does not mean the EMH can be
used as an excuse by the CEOs of the failed
financial firms or by the regulators who did
not see the risks that subprime mortgagebacked securities posed to the financial
stability of the economy. Regulators wrongly
believed that financial firms were offsetting
their credit risks, while the banks and credit
rating agencies were fooled by faulty models
that underestimated the risk in real estate.
After the 1982 recession, the U.S. and
world economies entered into a long period
where the fluctuations in variables such as
gross domestic product, industrial production, and employment were significantly
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more trading costs, and because they charge greater fees as compensation for their
alleged expertise.
What about the 25 percent of managers who did beat the market? Perhaps they
are smarter than average, or perhaps they were luckier. If you have 5,000 people
flipping coins ten times, on average about five will flip ten heads; these five might
claim an exceptional coin-flipping skill, but they would have trouble replicating
the feat. Similarly, studies have shown that mutual fund managers with a history
of superior performance usually fail to maintain it in subsequent periods.
The Wall Street Journal published an example of this phenomenon on January
3, 2008. The paper reported that of the many thousands of mutual funds sold
to the public, only thirty-one beat the Standard & Poor’s 500 index in each of
the eight years from 1999 to 2006. A skeptic of the efficient markets hypothesis
might think that, subsequently, these highly performing funds would offer a
better-than-average place to invest. In 2007, however, only fourteen of these thirtyone outperformed the index—about what would be expected from sheer chance.
Exceptional past performance appears to give little reason to expect future success.
The efficient markets hypothesis says that it is impossible to beat the market.
The accumulation of many studies in financial markets confirms that beating the
market is, at best, extremely difficult. Even if the efficient markets hypothesis is
not an exact description of the world, it contains a large element of truth. ■
lower than they had been since World War
II. Economists called this period the “Great
Moderation” and attributed the increased
stability to better monetary policy, a larger
service sector and better inventory control,
among other factors.
The economic response to the Great
Moderation was predictable: risk premiums
shrank and individuals and firms took on
more leverage. Housing prices were boosted
by historically low nominal and real interest
rates and the development of the securitized
subprime lending market.
According to data collected by Prof.
Robert Shiller of Yale University, in the
61 years from 1945 through 2006 the
maximum cumulative decline in the average
price of homes was 2.84% in 1991. If this
low volatility of home prices persisted into
the future, a mortgage security composed
of a nationally diversified portfolio of loans
comprising the first 80% of a home’s value
would have never come close to defaulting. The credit quality of home buyers was
secondary because it was thought that
underlying collateral—the home—could
always cover the principal in the event
the homeowner defaulted. These models
led credit agencies to rate these subprime
mortgages as “investment grade.”
But this assessment was faulty. From
2000 through 2006, national home prices
rose by 88.7%, far more than the 17.5%
gain in the consumer price index or the
paltry 1% rise in median household income.
Never before have home prices jumped that
far ahead of prices and incomes.
This should have sent up red flags and
cast doubts on using models that looked only
at historical declines to judge future risk. But
these flags were ignored as Wall Street was
reaping large profits bundling and selling the
securities while Congress was happy that
more Americans could enjoy the “American
Dream” of home ownership. Indeed, through
government-sponsored enterprises such as
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Washington
helped fuel the subprime boom.
Neither the rating agencies’ mistakes
nor the overleveraging by the financial firms
in the subprime securities is the fault of
the Efficient Market Hypothesis. The fact
that the yields on these mortgages were
high despite their investment-grade rating
indicated that the market was rightly suspicious of the quality of the securities, and this
should have served as a warning to prospective buyers.
With few exceptions (Goldman Sachs
being one), financial firms ignored these warnings. CEOs failed to exercise their authority to
monitor overall risk of the firm and instead
put their faith in technicians whose narrow
models could not capture the big picture. . . .
Our crisis wasn’t due to blind faith in the
Efficient Market Hypothesis. The fact that
risk premiums were low does not mean they
were nonexistent and that market prices
were right. Despite the recent recession, the
Great Moderation is real and our economy
is inherently more stable.
But this does not mean that risks have
disappeared. To use an analogy, the fact that
automobiles today are safer than they were
years ago does not mean that you can drive
at 120 mph. A small bump on the road, perhaps insignificant at lower speeds, will easily
flip the best-engineered car. Our financial
firms drove too fast, our central bank failed
to stop them, and the housing deflation
crashed the banks and the economy.
Source: The Wall Street Journal, October 28, 2009.
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Market Irrationality
The efficient markets hypothesis assumes that people buying and selling stock
rationally process the information they have about the stock’s underlying value.
But is the stock market really that rational? Or do stock prices sometimes deviate
from reasonable expectations of their true value?
There is a long tradition suggesting that fluctuations in stock prices are partly
psychological. In the 1930s, economist John Maynard Keynes suggested that asset
markets are driven by the “animal spirits” of investors—irrational waves of optimism and pessimism. In the 1990s, as the stock market soared to new heights,
Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan questioned whether the boom reflected “irrational
exuberance.” Stock prices did subsequently fall, but whether the exuberance of
the 1990s was irrational given the information available at the time remains debatable. Whenever the price of an asset rises above what appears to be its fundamental value, the market is said to be experiencing a speculative bubble.
The possibility of speculative bubbles in the stock market arises in part because
the value of the stock to a stockholder depends not only on the stream of dividend
payments but also on the final sale price. Thus, a person might be willing to pay
more than a stock is worth today if she expects another person to pay even more for
it tomorrow. When you evaluate a stock, you have to estimate not only the value of
the business but also what other people will think the business is worth in the future.
There is much debate among economists about the frequency and importance
of departures from rational pricing. Believers in market irrationality point out
(correctly) that the stock market often moves in ways that are hard to explain on
the basis of news that might alter a rational valuation. Believers in the efficient
markets hypothesis point out (correctly) that it is impossible to know the correct,
rational valuation of a company, so one should not quickly jump to the conclusion
that any particular valuation is irrational. Moreover, if the market were irrational,
a rational person should be able to take advantage of this fact; yet as the previous
case study discussed, beating the market is nearly impossible.
QUICK QUIZ Fortune magazine regularly publishes a list of the “most respected”
companies. According to the efficient markets hypothesis, if you restrict your stock
portfolio to these companies, will you earn a better than average return? Explain.
Conclusion
This chapter has developed some of the basic tools that people should (and often
do) use as they make financial decisions. The concept of present value reminds us
that a dollar in the future is less valuable than a dollar today, and it gives us a way
to compare sums of money at different points in time. The theory of risk management reminds us that the future is uncertain and that risk-averse people can take
precautions to guard against this uncertainty. The study of asset valuation tells us
that the stock price of any company should reflect its expected future profitability.
Although most of the tools of finance are well established, there is more controversy about the validity of the efficient markets hypothesis and whether stock
prices are, in practice, rational estimates of a company’s true worth. Rational or
not, the large movements in stock prices that we observe have important macroeconomic implications. Stock market fluctuations often go hand in hand with
fluctuations in the economy more broadly. We revisit the stock market when we
study economic fluctuations later in the book.
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SUMMARY
• Because savings can earn interest, a sum of • The value of an asset equals the present value
money today is more valuable than the same
sum of money in the future. A person can
compare sums from different times using the
concept of present value. The present value of
any future sum is the amount that would be
needed today, given prevailing interest rates, to
produce that future sum.
• Because of diminishing marginal utility, most
people are risk averse. Risk-averse people can
reduce risk by buying insurance, diversifying
their holdings, and choosing a portfolio with
lower risk and lower return.
of the cash flows the owner will receive. For
a share of stock, these cash flows include the
stream of dividends and the final sale price.
According to the efficient markets hypothesis,
financial markets process available information
rationally, so a stock price always equals the
best estimate of the value of the underlying
business. Some economists question the efficient
markets hypothesis, however, and believe that
irrational psychological factors also influence
asset prices.
KEY CONCEPTS
CO
CONC
C EPTS
S
finance, p. 282
present value, p. 282
future value, p. 282
compounding, p. 282
risk aversion, p. 284
diversification, p. 286
firm-specific risk, p. 287
market risk, p. 287
fundamental analysis, p. 289
efficient markets hypothesis, p. 289
informational efficiency, p. 290
random walk, p. 290
IONS
FOR
R EVIEW
QU S IO
QUEST
O NS
S FO
O R REVIEW
1. The interest rate is 7 percent. Use the concept
of present value to compare $200 to be
received in 10 years and $300 to be received in
20 years.
2. What benefit do people get from the market
for insurance? What two problems impede the
insurance company from working perfectly?
3. What is diversification? Does a stockholder get
more diversification going from 1 to 10 stocks or
going from 100 to 120 stocks?
4. Comparing stocks and government bonds,
which has more risk? Which pays a higher
average return?
5. What factors should a stock analyst think about
in determining the value of a share of stock?
6. Describe the efficient markets hypothesis and
give a piece of evidence consistent with this
hypothesis.
7. Explain the view of those economists who are
skeptical of the efficient markets hypothesis.
PROBLEMS
PRO
B LEMS AND APPLICATIONS
APPLICATIO NS
1. According to an old myth, Native Americans
sold the island of Manhattan about 400 years
ago for $24. If they had invested this amount at
an interest rate of 7 percent per year, how much
would they have today?
2. A company has an investment project that
would cost $10 million today and yield a payoff
of $15 million in 4 years.
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-027.indd 591
a. Should the firm undertake the project if
the interest rate is 11 percent? 10 percent?
9 percent? 8 percent?
b. Can you figure out the exact cutoff for
the interest rate between profitability and
nonprofitability?
3. Bond A pays $8,000 in 20 years. Bond B pays
$8,000 in 40 years. (To keep things simple,
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296
PART V
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
THE REAL ECONOMY IN THE LONG RUN
assume these are zero-coupon bonds, which
means the $8,000 is the only payment the bond
holder receives.)
a. If the interest rate is 3.5 percent, what is
the value of each bond today? Which bond
is worth more? Why? (Hint: You can use a
calculator, but the rule of 70 should make the
calculation easy.)
b. If the interest rate increases to 7 percent,
what is the value of each bond? Which
bond has a larger percentage change in
value?
c. Based on the example above, complete the
two blanks in this sentence: “The value of
a bond [rises/falls] when the interest rate
increases, and bonds with a longer time to
maturity are [more/less] sensitive to changes
in the interest rate.”
Your bank account pays an interest rate of 8
percent. You are considering buying a share of
stock in XYZ Corporation for $110. After 1, 2,
and 3 years, it will pay a dividend of $5. You
expect to sell the stock after 3 years for $120. Is
XYZ a good investment? Support your answer
with calculations.
For each of the following kinds of insurance,
give an example of behavior that can be
called moral hazard and another example
of behavior that can be called adverse
selection.
a. health insurance
b. car insurance
Which kind of stock would you expect to
pay the higher average return: stock in an
industry that is very sensitive to economic
conditions (such as an automaker) or stock
in an industry that is relatively insensitive
to economic conditions (such as a water
company)? Why?
A company faces two kinds of risk. A firmspecific risk is that a competitor might enter
its market and take some of its customers.
A market risk is that the economy might
enter a recession, reducing sales. Which of
these two risks would more likely cause the
company’s shareholders to demand a higher
return? Why?
You have two roommates who invest in the
stock market.
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-027.indd 592
a. One roommate says that he buys stock
only in companies that everyone believes
will experience big increases in profits
in the future. How do you suppose the
price-earnings ratio of these companies
compares to the price-earnings ratio of
other companies? What might be the
disadvantage of buying stock in these
companies?
b. Another roommate says he only buys stock
in companies that are cheap, which he
measures by a low price-earnings ratio. How
do you suppose the earnings prospects of
these companies compare to those of other
companies? What might be the disadvantage
of buying stock in these companies?
9. When company executives buy and sell stock
based on private information they obtain as part
of their jobs, they are engaged in insider trading.
a. Give an example of inside information that
might be useful for buying or selling stock.
b. Those who trade stocks based on inside
information usually earn very high rates of
return. Does this fact violate the efficient
markets hypothesis?
c. Insider trading is illegal. Why do you
suppose that is?
10. Jamal has a utility function U = W1/2, where
W is his wealth in millions of dollars (which
determines how much he gets to buy and
consume over his lifetime) and U is the utility
he obtains.
a. Graph Jamal’s utility function. Is he risk
averse? Explain.
b. In the final stage of a game show, the host
offers Jamal a choice between (A) $4 million
for sure, or (B) a gamble that pays $1 million
with probability 0.6 and $9 million with
probability 0.4. Should Jamal pick A or B?
Explain you reasoning with appropriate
calculations. (Hint: The expected value of a
random variable is the weighted average of
the possible outcomes, where the probabilities
are the weights.)
For further information on topics in this chapter,
additional problems, applications, examples, online
quizzes, and more, please visit our website at www
.cengage.com/economics/mankiw.
11/12/10 7:17 PM
Unemployment
15
L
osing a job can be the most distressing economic event in a person’s life.
Most people rely on their labor earnings to maintain their standard of living, and many people also get a sense of personal accomplishment from
working. A job loss means a lower living standard in the present, anxiety
about the future, and reduced self-esteem. It is not surprising, therefore, that politicians campaigning for office often speak about how their proposed policies will
help create jobs.
In previous chapters, we have seen some of the forces that determine the level
and growth of a country’s standard of living. A country that saves and invests a
high fraction of its income, for instance, enjoys more rapid growth in its capital
stock and GDP than a similar country that saves and invests less. An even more
obvious determinant of a country’s standard of living is the amount of unemployment it typically experiences. People who would like to work but cannot find
a job are not contributing to the economy’s production of goods and services.
Although some degree of unemployment is inevitable in a complex economy with
297
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PART V
THE REAL ECONOMY IN THE LONG RUN
thousands of firms and millions of workers, the amount of unemployment varies
substantially over time and across countries. When a country keeps its workers
as fully employed as possible, it achieves a higher level of GDP than it would if it
left many of its workers standing idle.
This chapter begins our study of unemployment. The problem of unemployment
is usefully divided into two categories: the long-run problem and the short-run
problem. The economy’s natural rate of unemployment refers to the amount of unemployment that the economy normally experiences. Cyclical unemployment refers to
the year-to-year fluctuations in unemployment around its natural rate, and it is
closely associated with the short-run ups and downs of economic activity. Cyclical
unemployment has its own explanation, which we defer until we study short-run
economic fluctuations later in this book. In this chapter, we discuss the determinants of an economy’s natural rate of unemployment. As we will see, the designation natural does not imply that this rate of unemployment is desirable. Nor does
it imply that it is constant over time or impervious to economic policy. It merely
means that this unemployment does not go away on its own even in the long run.
We begin the chapter by looking at some of the relevant facts that describe
unemployment. In particular, we examine three questions: How does the government measure the economy’s rate of unemployment? What problems arise in
interpreting the unemployment data? How long are the unemployed typically
without work?
We then turn to the reasons economies always experience some unemployment and the ways in which policymakers can help the unemployed. We discuss
four explanations for the economy’s natural rate of unemployment: job search,
minimum-wage laws, unions, and efficiency wages. As we will see, long-run
unemployment does not arise from a single problem that has a single solution.
Instead, it reflects a variety of related problems. As a result, there is no easy way
for policymakers to reduce the economy’s natural rate of unemployment and, at
the same time, to alleviate the hardships experienced by the unemployed.
Identifying Unemployment
Let’s start by examining more precisely what the term unemployment means.
How Is Unemployment Measured?
Measuring unemployment is the job of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), which
is part of the Department of Labor. Every month, the BLS produces data on unemployment and on other aspects of the labor market, including types of employment, length of the average workweek, and the duration of unemployment. These
data come from a regular survey of about 60,000 households, called the Current
Population Survey.
Based on the answers to survey questions, the BLS places each adult (age 16
and older) of each surveyed household into one of three categories:
•
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-028.indd 594
Employed: This category includes those who worked as paid employees,
worked in their own business, or worked as unpaid workers in a family
member’s business. Both full-time and part-time workers are counted.
This category also includes those who were not working but who had jobs
from which they were temporarily absent because of, for example, vacation,
illness, or bad weather.
11/12/10 7:20 PM
CHAPTER 15
•
•
UNEMPLOYMENT
299
Unemployed: This category includes those who were not employed, were
available for work, and had tried to find employment during the previous
four weeks. It also includes those waiting to be recalled to a job from which
they had been laid off.
Not in the labor force: This category includes those who fit neither of the first
two categories, such as a full-time student, homemaker, or retiree.
Figure 1 shows the breakdown into these categories for 2009.
Once the BLS has placed all the individuals covered by the survey in a category, it computes various statistics to summarize the state of the labor market.
The BLS defines the labor force as the sum of the employed and the unemployed:
Labor force = Number of employed + Number of unemployed.
The BLS defines the unemployment rate as the percentage of the labor force that
is unemployed:
Unemployment rate =
Number of unemployed
Labor force
× 100.
The BLS computes unemployment rates for the entire adult population and for
more narrowly defined groups such as blacks, whites, men, women, and so on.
The BLS uses the same survey to produce data on labor-force participation. The
labor-force participation rate measures the percentage of the total adult population of the United States that is in the labor force:
Labor-force participation rate =
Labor force
Adult population
× 100.
labor force
the total number of
workers, including both
the employed and the
unemployed
unemployment rate
the percentage of
the labor force that is
unemployed
labor-force
participation rate
the percentage of the
adult population that is in
the labor force
Figure
1
The Breakdown of the
Population in 2009
Employed
(139.9 million)
Adult
Population
(235.9 million)
Labor Force
(154.2 million)
The Bureau of Labor
Statistics divides the adult
population into three
categories: employed,
unemployed, and not in the
labor force.
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Unemployed (14.3 million)
Not in labor force
(81.7 million)
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PART V
THE REAL ECONOMY IN THE LONG RUN
This statistic tells us the fraction of the population that has chosen to participate in
the labor market. The labor-force participation rate, like the unemployment rate,
is computed for both the entire adult population and more specific groups.
To see how these data are computed, consider the figures for 2009. In that year,
139.9 million people were employed, and 14.3 million people were unemployed.
The labor force was
Labor force = 139.9 + 14.3 = 154.2 million.
The unemployment rate was
Unemployment rate = (14.3 / 154.2) × 100 = 9.3 percent.
Because the adult population was 235.9 million, the labor-force participation rate
was
Labor-force participation rate = (154.2 / 235.9) × 100 = 65.4 percent.
natural rate of
unemployment
the normal rate of
unemployment around
which the unemployment
rate fluctuates
Table
1
The Labor-Market
Experiences of Various
Demographic Groups
This table shows the unemployment
rate and the labor-force participation
rate of various groups in the U.S.
population for 2009.
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics.
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-028.indd 596
Hence, in 2009, almost two-thirds of the U.S. adult population were participating in the labor market, and 9.3 percent of those labor-market participants were
without work.
Table 1 shows the statistics on unemployment and labor-force participation for
various groups within the U.S. population. Three comparisons are most apparent. First, women ages 20 and older have lower rates of labor-force participation
than men, but once in the labor force, women have somewhat lower rates of
unemployment. Second, blacks ages 20 and older have similar rates of labor-force
participation as whites, but they have much higher rates of unemployment. Third,
teenagers have lower rates of labor-force participation and much higher rates of
unemployment than older workers. More generally, these data show that labormarket experiences vary widely among groups within the economy.
The BLS data on the labor market also allow economists and policymakers to
monitor changes in the economy over time. Figure 2 shows the unemployment rate
in the United States since 1960. The figure shows that the economy always has some
unemployment and that the amount changes from year to year. The normal rate
of unemployment around which the unemployment rate fluctuates is called the
natural rate of unemployment, and the deviation of unemployment from its natural
Demographic Group
Unemployment Rate
Labor-Force
Participation Rate
Adults (ages 20 and older)
White, male
White, female
Black, male
Black, female
8.8%
6.8
16.3
11.5
75.3%
60.4
69.6
63.4
25.2
18.4
46.0
33.4
40.3
40.9
26.4
27.9
Teenagers (ages 16–19)
White, male
White, female
Black, male
Black, female
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CHAPTER 15
This graph uses annual data on the U.S. unemployment rate to show the percentage
of the labor force without a job. The natural rate of unemployment is the normal
level of unemployment around which the unemployment rate fluctuates.
UNEMPLOYMENT
Figure
301
2
Unemployment Rate
since 1960
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Congressional Budget Office.
Percent of
Labor Force
10%
Unemployment rate
8
6
Natural rate of
unemployment
4
2
0
1960
1965
1970
1975
1980
1985
1990
1995
rate is called cyclical unemployment. The natural rate of unemployment shown in
the figure is a series estimated by economists at the Congressional Budget Office.
For 2009, they estimated a natural rate of 5.0 percent, far below the actual unemployment rate of 9.3 percent. Later in this book, we discuss short-run economic
fluctuations, including the year-to-year fluctuations in unemployment around its
natural rate. In the rest of this chapter, however, we ignore the short-run fluctuations and examine why there is always some unemployment in market economies.
2000
2005
2010
cyclical
unemployment
the deviation of
unemployment from its
natural rate
Labor-Force Participation of Men and
Women in the U.S. Economy
Women’s role in American society has changed dramatically over the past
century. Social commentators have pointed to many causes for this change. In
part, it is attributable to new technologies, such as the washing machine, clothes
dryer, refrigerator, freezer, and dishwasher, which have reduced the amount of
time required to complete routine household tasks. In part, it is attributable to
improved birth control, which has reduced the number of children born to the
typical family. This change in women’s role is also partly attributable to changing political and social attitudes, which in turn may have been facilitated by the
advances in technology and birth control. Together these developments have had
a profound impact on society in general and on the economy in particular.
Nowhere is that impact more obvious than in data on labor-force participation. Figure 3 shows the labor-force participation rates of men and women in the
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302
PART V
Figure
THE REAL ECONOMY IN THE LONG RUN
3
Labor-Force Participation
Rates for Men and Women
since 1950
This figure shows the percentage of adult men and women who are members of the
labor force. It shows that over the past several decades, women have entered the
labor force, and men have left it.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor.
Labor-Force
Participation
Rate (in percent)
100
Men
80
60
40
Women
20
0
1950
1955
1960
1965
1970
1975
1980
1985
1990
1995
2000
2005
2010
United States since 1950. Just after World War II, men and women had very different roles in society. Only 33 percent of women were working or looking for work,
in contrast to 87 percent of men. Over the past several decades, the difference
between the participation rates of men and women has gradually diminished, as
growing numbers of women have entered the labor force and some men have left
it. Data for 2009 show that 59 percent of women were in the labor force, in contrast
to 72 percent of men. As measured by labor-force participation, men and women
are now playing a more equal role in the economy.
The increase in women’s labor-force participation is easy to understand, but
the fall in men’s may seem puzzling. There are several reasons for this decline.
First, young men now stay in school longer than their fathers and grandfathers
did. Second, older men now retire earlier and live longer. Third, with more
women employed, more fathers now stay at home to raise their children. Fulltime students, retirees, and stay-at-home dads are all counted as being out of the
labor force. ■
Does the Unemployment Rate Measure
What We Want It To?
Measuring the amount of unemployment in the economy might seem a straightforward task, but it is not. While it is easy to distinguish between a person with a fulltime job and a person who is not working at all, it is much harder to distinguish
between a person who is unemployed and a person who is not in the labor force.
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CHAPTER 15
Movements into and out of the labor force are, in fact, common. More than
one-third of the unemployed are recent entrants into the labor force. These
entrants include young workers looking for their first jobs. They also include, in
greater numbers, older workers who had previously left the labor force but have
now returned to look for work. Moreover, not all unemployment ends with the
job seeker finding a job. Almost half of all spells of unemployment end when the
unemployed person leaves the labor force.
Because people move into and out of the labor force so often, statistics on
unemployment are difficult to interpret. On the one hand, some of those who
report being unemployed may not, in fact, be trying hard to find a job. They may
be calling themselves unemployed because they want to qualify for a government
program that financially assists the unemployed or because they are actually
working but paid “under the table” to avoid taxes on their earnings. It may be
more realistic to view these individuals as out of the labor force or, in some cases,
employed. On the other hand, some of those who report being out of the labor
force may want to work. These individuals may have tried to find a job and may
have given up after an unsuccessful search. Such individuals, called discouraged
workers, do not show up in unemployment statistics, even though they are truly
workers without jobs.
Because of these and other problems, the BLS calculates several other
measures of labor underutilization, in addition to the official unemployment
rate. These alternative measures are presented in Table 2. In the end, it is best
to view the official unemployment rate as a useful but imperfect measure of
joblessness.
Measure and Description
Rate
U-1
5.8%
U-2
U-3
U-4
U-5
U-6
Persons unemployed fifteen weeks or longer, as a percent of the civilian
labor force (includes only very long-term unemployed)
Job losers and persons who have completed temporary jobs, as a percent
of the civilian labor force (excludes job leavers)
Total unemployed, as a percent of the civilian labor force (official
unemployment rate)
Total unemployed, plus discouraged workers, as a percent of the civilian
labor force plus discouraged workers
Total unemployed plus all marginally attached workers, as a percent
of the civilian labor force plus all marginally attached workers
Total unemployed, plus all marginally attached workers, plus total
employed part-time for economic reasons, as a percent of the civilian
labor force plus all marginally attached workers
6.0
9.9
10.6
UNEMPLOYMENT
303
discouraged
workers
individuals who would
like to work but have
given up looking for a job
Table
2
Alternative Measures of
Labor Underutilization
The table shows various measures
of joblessness for the U.S.
economy. The data are for
April 2010.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor.
11.3
17.1
Note: The Bureau of Labor Statistics defines terms as follows:
• Marginally attached workers are persons who currently are neither working nor looking for
work but indicate that they want and are available for a job and have looked for work sometime in the recent past.
• Discouraged workers are marginally attached workers who have given a job-market-related
reason for not currently looking for a job.
• Persons employed part-time for economic reasons are those who want and are
available for full-time work but have had to settle for a part-time schedule.
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PART V
THE REAL ECONOMY IN THE LONG RUN
How Long Are the Unemployed without Work?
In judging how serious the problem of unemployment is, one question to consider is whether unemployment is typically a short-term or long-term condition.
If unemployment is short term, one might conclude that it is not a big problem.
Workers may require a few weeks between jobs to find the openings that best suit
their tastes and skills. Yet if unemployment is long term, one might conclude that
it is a serious problem. Workers unemployed for many months are more likely to
suffer economic and psychological hardship.
Because the duration of unemployment can affect our view about how big a
problem unemployment is, economists have devoted much energy to studying
data on the duration of unemployment spells. In this work, they have uncovered a result that is important, subtle, and seemingly contradictory: Most spells
of unemployment are short, and most unemployment observed at any given time is
long-term.
To see how this statement can be true, consider an example. Suppose that you
visited the government’s unemployment office every week for a year to survey
the unemployed. Each week you find that there are four unemployed workers.
Three of these workers are the same individuals for the whole year, while the
fourth person changes every week. Based on this experience, would you say that
unemployment is typically short-term or long-term?
Some simple calculations help answer this question. In this example, you
meet a total of 55 unemployed people over the course of a year; 52 of them are
unemployed for one week, and 3 are unemployed for the full year. This means
that 52/55, or 95 percent, of unemployment spells end in one week. Yet whenever
you walk into the unemployment office, three of the four people you meet will
be unemployed for the entire year. So, even though 95 percent of unemployment
spells end in one week, 75 percent of the unemployment observed at any moment
is attributable to those individuals who are unemployed for a full year. In this
example, as in the world, most spells of unemployment are short, and most unemployment observed at any given time is long-term.
This subtle conclusion implies that economists and policymakers must be careful when interpreting data on unemployment and when designing policies to help
the unemployed. Most people who become unemployed will soon find jobs. Yet
most of the economy’s unemployment problem is attributable to the relatively
few workers who are jobless for long periods of time.
Why Are There Always Some People Unemployed?
We have discussed how the government measures the amount of unemployment,
the problems that arise in interpreting unemployment statistics, and the findings
of labor economists on the duration of unemployment. You should now have a
good idea about what unemployment is.
This discussion, however, has not explained why economies experience
unemployment. In most markets in the economy, prices adjust to bring quantity
supplied and quantity demanded into balance. In an ideal labor market, wages
would adjust to balance the quantity of labor supplied and the quantity of labor
demanded. This adjustment of wages would ensure that all workers are always
fully employed.
Of course, reality does not resemble this ideal. There are always some workers
without jobs, even when the overall economy is doing well. In other words, the
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CHAPTER 15
UNEMPLOYMENT
305
in the news
The Rise of Long-Term Unemployment
During the economic downturn of 2008 and 2009, the number of longterm unemployed reached historic highs.
Chronic
Joblessness
Bites Deep
BY SARA MURRAY
R
ichard Moran, sitting in his garage in
Ortonville, Mich., Tuesday, has been
unemployed for two-and-a-half years after
losing his job with Chrysler.
The job market is improving, but one
statistic presents a stark reminder of the
challenges that remain: Nearly half of the
unemployed—45.9%—have been out of
work longer than six months, more than at
any time since the Labor Department began
keeping track in 1948.
Even in the worst months of the early
1980s, when the jobless rate topped 10%
for months on end, only about one in four
of the unemployed was out of work for more
than six months.
Overall, seven million Americans have
been looking for work for 27 weeks or more,
and most of them—4.7 million—have been
out of work for a year or more.
Long-term unemployment has reached
nearly every segment of the population, but
some have been particularly hard-hit. The
typical long-term unemployed worker is a
white man with a high-school education or
less. Older unemployed workers also tend to
be out of work longer. Those between ages
65 and 69 who still wish to work have typically been jobless for 49.8 weeks.
The effects of long-term unemployment
are likely to linger when the overall jobless rate falls toward normal, threatening
to create a pool of nearly permanently
unemployed workers, a condition once more
common in Europe than in the U.S.
“The consequences are worse for those
who can’t find a job quickly,” said Till
Marco von Wachter, a Columbia University
economist. They extend from atrophying
skills to a higher likelihood of unhappiness and anxiety. Workers out of work for
a long time tend to find it more difficult
to find a job, and “the longer people are
unemployed the more likely they are to
eventually give up searching and thereby
drop out of the labor force,” Mr. von
Wachter said.
Source: The Wall Street Journal, June 2, 2010.
unemployment rate never falls to zero; instead, it fluctuates around the natural
rate of unemployment. To understand this natural rate, the remaining sections of
this chapter examine the reasons actual labor markets depart from the ideal of full
employment.
To preview our conclusions, we will find that there are four ways to explain
unemployment in the long run. The first explanation is that it takes time for
workers to search for the jobs that are best suited for them. The unemployment
that results from the process of matching workers and jobs is sometimes called
frictional unemployment, and it is often thought to explain relatively short spells
of unemployment.
The next three explanations for unemployment suggest that the number
of jobs available in some labor markets may be insufficient to give a job to
everyone who wants one. This occurs when the quantity of labor supplied
exceeds the quantity demanded. Unemployment of this sort is sometimes called
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-028.indd 601
frictional
unemployment
unemployment that
results because it takes
time for workers to search
for the jobs that best suit
their tastes and skills
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FYI
The Jobs Number
W
hen the Bureau of Labor Statistics announces the unemployment rate at the beginning of every month, it also announces
the number of jobs the economy has gained or lost. As an indicator
of short-run economic trends, the jobs number gets as much attention as the unemployment rate.
Where does the jobs number come from? You might guess that
it comes from the same survey of 60,000 households that yields the
unemployment rate. And indeed the household survey does produce
data on total employment. The jobs number that gets the most
attention, however, comes from a separate survey of 160,000 business establishments, which have over 40 million workers on their
payrolls. The results from the establishment survey are announced
at the same time as the results from the household survey.
Both surveys yield information about total employment, but
the results are not always the same. One reason is that the
structural
unemployment
unemployment that
results because the
number of jobs available
in some labor markets
is insufficient to provide
a job for everyone who
wants one
establishment survey has a larger sample, which makes it more
reliable. Another reason is that the surveys are not measuring
exactly the same thing. For example, a person who has two
part-time jobs in different companies would be counted as one
employed person in the household survey but as two jobs in the
establishment survey. As another example, a person running his
own small business would be counted as employed in the household survey but would not show up at all in the establishment
survey, because the establishment survey counts only employees
on a business payroll.
The establishment survey is closely watched for its data on jobs,
but it says nothing about unemployment. To measure the number of
unemployed, we need to know how many people without jobs are
trying to find them. The household survey is the only source of that
information.
structural unemployment, and it is often thought to explain longer spells of
unemployment. As we will see, this kind of unemployment results when wages
are, for some reason, set above the level that brings supply and demand into
equilibrium. We will examine three possible reasons for an above-equilibrium
wage: minimum-wage laws, unions, and efficiency wages.
QUICK QUIZ How is the unemployment rate measured? • How might the unemployment rate overstate the amount of joblessness? How might it understate the amount
of joblessness?
Job Search
job search
the process by which
workers find appropriate
jobs given their tastes and
skills
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-028.indd 602
One reason economies always experience some unemployment is job search. Job
search is the process of matching workers with appropriate jobs. If all workers
and all jobs were the same, so that all workers were equally well suited for all
jobs, job search would not be a problem. Laid-off workers would quickly find new
jobs that were well suited for them. But in fact, workers differ in their tastes and
skills, jobs differ in their attributes, and information about job candidates and job
vacancies is disseminated slowly among the many firms and households in the
economy.
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Why Some Frictional Unemployment Is Inevitable
Frictional unemployment is often the result of changes in the demand for labor
among different firms. When consumers decide that they prefer Dell to Apple
computers, Dell increases employment, and Apple lays off workers. The former
Apple workers must now search for new jobs, and Dell must decide which new
workers to hire for the various jobs that have opened up. The result of this transition is a period of unemployment.
Similarly, because different regions of the country produce different goods,
employment can rise in one region while falling in another. Consider, for instance,
what happens when the world price of oil falls. Oil-producing firms in Alaska
respond to the lower price by cutting back on production and employment. At
the same time, cheaper gasoline stimulates car sales, so auto-producing firms in
Michigan raise production and employment. Just the opposite happens when the
world price of oil rises. Changes in the composition of demand among industries
or regions are called sectoral shifts. Because it takes time for workers to search for
jobs in the new sectors, sectoral shifts temporarily cause unemployment.
Frictional unemployment is inevitable simply because the economy is always
changing. A century ago, the four industries with the largest employment in the
United States were cotton goods, woolen goods, men’s clothing, and lumber.
Today, the four largest industries are autos, aircraft, communications, and electrical components. As this transition took place, jobs were created in some firms and
destroyed in others. The result of this process has been higher productivity and
higher living standards. But along the way, workers in declining industries found
themselves out of work and searching for new jobs.
Data show that at least 10 percent of U.S. manufacturing jobs are destroyed every
year. In addition, more than 3 percent of workers leave their jobs in a typical month,
sometimes because they realize that the jobs are not a good match for their tastes
and skills. Many of these workers, especially younger ones, find new jobs at higher
wages. This churning of the labor force is normal in a well-functioning and dynamic
market economy, but the result is some amount of frictional unemployment.
Public Policy and Job Search
Even if some frictional unemployment is inevitable, the precise amount is not. The
faster information spreads about job openings and worker availability, the more
rapidly the economy can match workers and firms. The Internet, for instance, may
help facilitate job search and reduce frictional unemployment. In addition, public
policy may play a role. If policy can reduce the time it takes unemployed workers
to find new jobs, it can reduce the economy’s natural rate of unemployment.
Government programs try to facilitate job search in various ways. One way
is through government-run employment agencies, which give out information
about job vacancies. Another way is through public training programs, which
aim to ease workers’ transition from declining to growing industries and to help
disadvantaged groups escape poverty. Advocates of these programs believe that
they make the economy operate more efficiently by keeping the labor force more
fully employed and that they reduce the inequities inherent in a constantly changing market economy.
Critics of these programs question whether the government should get
involved with the process of job search. They argue that it is better to let the private market match workers and jobs. In fact, most job search in our economy takes
place without intervention by the government. Newspaper ads, Internet job sites,
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unemployment
insurance
a government program
that partially protects
workers’ incomes when
they become unemployed
college placement offices, headhunters, and word of mouth all help spread information about job openings and job candidates. Similarly, much worker education
is done privately, either through schools or through on-the-job training. These
critics contend that the government is no better—and most likely worse—at disseminating the right information to the right workers and deciding what kinds of
worker training would be most valuable. They claim that these decisions are best
made privately by workers and employers.
Unemployment Insurance
One government program that increases the amount of frictional unemployment, without intending to do so, is unemployment insurance. This program
is designed to offer workers partial protection against job loss. The unemployed
in the news
How Much Do the Unemployed
Respond to Incentives?
During the economic downturn of 2008 and 2009, economists and
policymakers wrestled with the question of how much the unemploymentinsurance system was affecting the behavior of unemployed workers.
Long Recession
Ignites Debate on
Jobless Benefits
BY SARA MURRAY
M
anagement Recruiters of Sacramento,
Calif., says it recently had a tough time
filling six engineering positions at an Oregon
manufacturer paying $60,000 a year—
and suspects long-term jobless benefits
were part of the hitch.
“We called several engineers that were
unemployed,” says Karl Dinse, a managing
partner at the recruiting firm. “They said,
nah, you know, if it were paying $80,000 I’d
think about it.” Some candidates suggested
he call them back when their benefits were
scheduled to run out, he says.
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-028.indd 604
Rick Jewell has a different take on
extended jobless benefits: He didn’t want
to be on the dole, but had no alternative.
He has been out of work since he lost his
$12-an-hour job driving a forklift for a
cosmetics company in Greenwood, Ind., in
December 2008. He collected $315 a week
in benefits until early June—when Congress
declined to renew the law that gave workers
in Indiana and some other states up to 99
weeks of assistance.
“I am tired of sitting at home. I am
tired of not being the breadwinner,” says
Mr. Jewell, who says he looks for work every
day. He and his wife now rely on her $480 a
week job as a distribution supervisor at the
same cosmetics company.
In the long recession and the lackluster
recovery, the government expanded unemployment payments more than at any time
since the benefits were rolled out in the
1930s. And workers have gone jobless for
longer than any time since official tallies
began in 1967.
Politicians and economists are now in
a fierce debate that could have big consequences for the jobless: Did more-generous
unemployment benefits prompt jobless
workers to be pickier in their searches? Or
was the program a prudent response to the
worst recession in generations? . . .
Economists have argued for years about
the extent to which government benefits
prolong unemployment—and possibly augment the overall jobless rate. Most believe
that expanding benefits does discourage
some unemployed people from looking for
work or taking available jobs. But they
disagree on how acute that effect is, particularly at a time when jobs are scarce.
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who quit their jobs, were fired for cause, or just entered the labor force are not
eligible. Benefits are paid only to the unemployed who were laid off because
their previous employers no longer needed their skills. The terms of the program
vary over time and across states, but a typical worker covered by unemployment
insurance in the United States receives 50 percent of his or her former wages for
twenty-six weeks.
While unemployment insurance reduces the hardship of unemployment, it
also increases the amount of unemployment. The explanation is based on one of
the Ten Principles of Economics in Chapter 1: People respond to incentives. Because
unemployment benefits stop when a worker takes a new job, the unemployed
devote less effort to job search and are more likely to turn down unattractive
job offers. In addition, because unemployment insurance makes unemployment
“Given the current economic situation I
doubt that effect is very large,” says Harvard
University economist Raj Chetty. “I think
people will take whatever job they can get.”
Economists on the right see a danger
to prolonging benefits. “I don’t think anybody’s getting rich off of unemployment,
and I’m not saying people are lazy,” says
Michael Tanner of the Cato Institute, a
libertarian think tank in Washington, D.C.
“The fact is, when you have a check coming
in, even if it’s a fairly low check, you’re less
motivated to either look for work or accept
less optimal jobs.”
The recent recession was unusual in
almost every respect. Compared to other
post-World War II recessions, it was deeper,
longer and put more people out of work.
A year after the economy began growing,
unemployment is still a very high 9.5%.
Nearly half the jobless—6.8 million total—
have been out of work for more than six
months, and 4.3 million of those have been
without work for more than a year. The typical unemployed person has been out of the
job market for a median of 25.5 weeks.
The government response was also
unusual, and not just in the big bank bailout. In normal times, the unemployed are
offered up to 26 weeks of benefits, largely
financed by a tax on employers. In recessions, state and federal governments often
jointly finance up to an additional 20 weeks
Broader Coverage
Percent of all unemployed
collecting jobless benefits
Recessions
60%
50
40
30
20
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s
Source: Labor Dept.
in hard-hit states. In this recession, Congress
added up to another 53 weeks of federally
funded benefits; in the deep crisis of the
1980s, the maximum total never exceeded
55 weeks.
The unemployment compensation system, created in 1935, was designed to tide
workers over during periods of temporary
unemployment. Benefits are based on a
worker’s prior wages; the average is $310
a week. Only workers who have lost a job
through no fault of their own are eligible.
Those who quit or who are new to the
work force don’t qualify. They must reapply
weekly or biweekly, depending on the state,
and indicate that they are looking for work.
In the 1980s, only half of all unemployed
received benefits. In the first quarter of
2010, 69% of the unemployed did. That’s
partly because the benefits lasted so much
longer, economists say. It’s also because
Washington gave states incentives to extend
benefits to workers looking for part-time jobs
and those who enrolled in training programs.
A variety of studies suggest that adding another 53 weeks of benefits increases
the time the average worker is jobless by
between 4.2 and 10.6 weeks. The higher
estimates are based on studies conducted
decades ago when layoffs were often temporary; in this recession, many unemployed
workers will never return to their old positions. . . . In a recession such as this one—
with five unemployed workers for every job
opening—it’s not clear whether the old
academic findings apply.
In his scholarly past, Lawrence Summers,
now Mr. Obama’s economic guru, wrote in
1993 that “government assistance programs contribute to long-term unemployment . . . by providing an incentive, and
the means, not to work.” When an April
Wall Street Journal editorial described his
position, Mr. Summers fired back in a letter
to the editor: “In the wake of the worst economic crisis in eight decades . . . there can
be no doubt that the overwhelming cause of
unemployment is economic distress, not the
existence of unemployment insurance.”
Source: The Wall Street Journal, July 7, 2010.
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less onerous, workers are less likely to seek guarantees of job security when they
negotiate with employers over the terms of employment.
Many studies by labor economists have examined the incentive effects of
unemployment insurance. One study examined an experiment run by the state
of Illinois in 1985. When unemployed workers applied to collect unemployment
insurance benefits, the state randomly selected some of them and offered each
a $500 bonus if they found new jobs within eleven weeks. This group was then
compared to a control group not offered the incentive. The average spell of unemployment for the group offered the bonus was 7 percent shorter than the average
spell for the control group. This experiment shows that the design of the unemployment insurance system influences the effort that the unemployed devote to
job search.
Several other studies examined search effort by following a group of workers
over time. Unemployment insurance benefits, rather than lasting forever, usually
run out after six months or one year. These studies found that when the unemployed become ineligible for benefits, the probability of their finding a new job
rises markedly. Thus, receiving unemployment insurance benefits does reduce
the search effort of the unemployed.
Even though unemployment insurance reduces search effort and raises unemployment, we should not necessarily conclude that the policy is bad. The program
does achieve its primary goal of reducing the income uncertainty that workers
face. In addition, when workers turn down unattractive job offers, they have the
opportunity to look for jobs that better suit their tastes and skills. Some economists argue that unemployment insurance improves the ability of the economy to
match each worker with the most appropriate job.
The study of unemployment insurance shows that the unemployment rate is an
imperfect measure of a nation’s overall level of economic well-being. Most economists agree that eliminating unemployment insurance would reduce the amount
of unemployment in the economy. Yet economists disagree on whether economic
well-being would be enhanced or diminished by this change in policy.
QUICK QUIZ How would an increase in the world price of oil affect the amount of
frictional unemployment? Is this unemployment undesirable? What public policies
might affect the amount of unemployment caused by this price change?
Minimum-Wage Laws
Having seen how frictional unemployment results from the process of matching
workers and jobs, let’s now examine how structural unemployment results when
the number of jobs is insufficient for the number of workers.
To understand structural unemployment, we begin by reviewing how minimumwage laws can cause unemployment. Although minimum wages are not the predominant reason for unemployment in our economy, they have an important effect
on certain groups with particularly high unemployment rates. Moreover, the analysis
of minimum wages is a natural place to start because, as we will see, it can be used
to understand some of the other reasons for structural unemployment.
Figure 4 reviews the basic economics of a minimum wage. When a minimum-wage
law forces the wage to remain above the level that balances supply and demand, it
raises the quantity of labor supplied and reduces the quantity of labor demanded
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CHAPTER 15
Figure
Wage
Labor
supply
Surplus of labor Unemployment
Minimum
wage
WE
Labor
demand
0
UNEMPLOYMENT
LD
LE
LS
Quantity of
Labor
311
4
Unemployment from a Wage
above the Equilibrium Level
In this labor market, the
wage at which supply and
demand balance is WE. At this
equilibrium wage, the quantity
of labor supplied and the
quantity of labor demanded
both equal LE. By contrast, if
the wage is forced to remain
above the equilibrium level,
perhaps because of a minimumwage law, the quantity of labor
supplied rises to LS, and the
quantity of labor demanded
falls to LD. The resulting surplus
of labor, LS – LD, represents
unemployment.
compared to the equilibrium level. There is a surplus of labor. Because there are more
workers willing to work than there are jobs, some workers are unemployed.
While minimum-wage laws are one reason unemployment exists in the U.S.
economy, they do not affect everyone. The vast majority of workers have wages
well above the legal minimum, so the law does not prevent most wages from
adjusting to balance supply and demand. Minimum-wage laws matter most for
the least skilled and least experienced members of the labor force, such as teenagers. Their equilibrium wages tend to be low and, therefore, are more likely to
fall below the legal minimum. It is only among these workers that minimumwage laws explain the existence of unemployment.
Figure 4 is drawn to show the effects of a minimum-wage law, but it also
illustrates a more general lesson: If the wage is kept above the equilibrium level for any
reason, the result is unemployment. Minimum-wage laws are just one reason wages
may be “too high.” In the remaining two sections of this chapter, we consider
two other reasons wages may be kept above the equilibrium level: unions and
efficiency wages. The basic economics of unemployment in these cases is the same
as that shown in Figure 4, but these explanations of unemployment can apply to
many more of the economy’s workers.
At this point, however, we should stop and notice that the structural unemployment that arises from an above-equilibrium wage is, in an important sense,
different from the frictional unemployment that arises from the process of job
search. The need for job search is not due to the failure of wages to balance labor
supply and labor demand. When job search is the explanation for unemployment,
workers are searching for the jobs that best suit their tastes and skills. By contrast,
when the wage is above the equilibrium level, the quantity of labor supplied
exceeds the quantity of labor demanded, and workers are unemployed because
they are waiting for jobs to open up.
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FYI
Who Earns the Minimum Wage?
I
n 2010, the Department of Labor released a study of which workers reported earnings at or below the minimum wage in 2009,
when, in July, the minimum wage was raised from $6.55 to $7.25
per hour. (A reported wage below the minimum is possible because
some workers are exempt from the statute, because enforcement is
imperfect, and because some workers round down when reporting
their wages on surveys.) Here is a summary of the findings:
• Of those workers paid an hourly rate, about 4 percent of men
and 6 percent of women reported wages at or below the prevailing federal minimum.
• Minimum-wage workers tend to be young. About half of all
hourly paid workers earning the minimum wage or less were
under age 25, and about one-fourth were age 16–19. Among
employed teenagers, 19 percent earned the minimum wage or
less, compared with 3 percent of workers age 25 and older.
• Minimum-wage workers tend to be less educated. Among hourly
paid workers age 16 and older, about 10 percent of those without
a high school diploma earned the minimum wage or less, compared with about 4 percent of those who earned a high school
diploma (but did not attend college) and about 3 percent for
those who had obtained a college degree.
• Minimum-wage workers are more likely to be working part time.
Among part-time workers (those who usually work less than 35
hours per week), 11 percent were paid the minimum wage or
less, compared to 2 percent of full-time workers.
• The industry with the highest proportion of workers with reported
hourly wages at or below the minimum wage was leisure and
hospitality (21 percent). About one-half of all workers paid at
or below the minimum wage were employed in this industry,
primarily in food services and drinking establishments. For many
of these workers, tips supplement the hourly wages received.
• The proportion of hourly paid workers earning the prevailing federal minimum wage or less has trended downward since 1979,
when data collection first began on a regular basis.
QUICK QUIZ Draw the supply curve and the demand curve for a labor market in
which the wage is fixed above the equilibrium level. Show the quantity of labor supplied, the quantity demanded, and the amount of unemployment.
Unions and Collective Bargaining
union
a worker association that
bargains with employers
over wages, benefits, and
working conditions
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-028.indd 608
A union is a worker association that bargains with employers over wages, benefits, and working conditions. Only 12 percent of U.S. workers now belong to
unions, but unions played a much larger role in the U.S. labor market in the past.
In the 1940s and 1950s, when union membership was at its peak, about a third of
the U.S. labor force was unionized.
Moreover, for a variety of historical reasons, unions continue to play a large
role in many European countries. In Belgium, Norway, and Sweden, for instance,
more than half of workers belong to unions. In France and Germany, a majority
of workers have wages set by collective bargaining by law, even though only
some of these workers are themselves union members. In these cases, wages are
not determined by the equilibrium of supply and demand in competitive labor
markets.
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© ALAN DUNN. THE NEW YORKER COLLECTION/
WWW.CARTOONBANK.COM.
The Economics of Unions
A union is a type of cartel. Like any cartel, a union is a group of sellers acting
together in the hope of exerting their joint market power. Most workers in the
U.S. economy discuss their wages, benefits, and working conditions with their
employers as individuals. By contrast, workers in a union do so as a group. The
process by which unions and firms agree on the terms of employment is called
collective bargaining.
When a union bargains with a firm, it asks for higher wages, better benefits,
and better working conditions than the firm would offer in the absence of a union.
If the union and the firm do not reach agreement, the union can organize a withdrawal of labor from the firm, called a strike. Because a strike reduces production,
sales, and profit, a firm facing a strike threat is likely to agree to pay higher wages
than it otherwise would. Economists who study the effects of unions typically find
that union workers earn about 10 to 20 percent more than similar workers who do
not belong to unions.
When a union raises the wage above the equilibrium level, it raises the quantity of labor supplied and reduces the quantity of labor demanded, resulting in
unemployment. Workers who remain employed at the higher wage are better off,
but those who were previously employed and are now unemployed are worse
off. Indeed, unions are often thought to cause conflict between different groups of
workers—between the insiders who benefit from high union wages and the outsiders who do not get the union jobs.
The outsiders can respond to their status in one of two ways. Some of them
remain unemployed and wait for the chance to become insiders and earn the
high union wage. Others take jobs in firms that are not unionized. Thus, when
unions raise wages in one part of the economy, the supply of labor increases in
other parts of the economy. This increase in labor supply, in turn, reduces wages
in industries that are not unionized. In other words, workers in unions reap the
benefit of collective bargaining, while workers not in unions bear some of the cost.
The role of unions in the economy depends in part on the laws that govern
union organization and collective bargaining. Normally, explicit agreements
among members of a cartel are illegal. When firms selling similar products agree
to set high prices, the agreement is considered a “conspiracy in restraint of trade,”
and the government prosecutes the firms in civil and criminal court for violating
the antitrust laws. By contrast, unions are exempt from these laws. The policymakers who wrote the antitrust laws believed that workers needed greater market
power as they bargained with employers. Indeed, various laws are designed to
encourage the formation of unions. In particular, the Wagner Act of 1935 prevents
employers from interfering when workers try to organize unions and requires
employers to bargain with unions in good faith. The National Labor Relations
Board (NLRB) is the government agency that enforces workers’ right to unionize.
Legislation affecting the market power of unions is a perennial topic of political
debate. State lawmakers sometimes debate right-to-work laws, which give workers
in a unionized firm the right to choose whether to join the union. In the absence
of such laws, unions can insist during collective bargaining that firms make union
membership a requirement for employment. At times, lawmakers in Washington
have debated a proposed law that would prevent firms from hiring permanent
replacements for workers who are on strike. This law would make strikes more
costly for firms, thereby increasing the market power of unions. These and similar
policy decisions will help determine the future of the union movement.
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-028.indd 609
collective
bargaining
the process by which
unions and firms agree on
the terms of employment
strike
the organized withdrawal
of labor from a firm by a
union
“Gentlemen, nothing
stands in the way of a
final accord except that
management wants
profit maximization and
the union wants more
moola.”
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Are Unions Good or Bad for the Economy?
Economists disagree about whether unions are good or bad for the economy as a
whole. Let’s consider both sides of the debate.
Critics argue that unions are merely a type of cartel. When unions raise wages
above the level that would prevail in competitive markets, they reduce the quantity of labor demanded, cause some workers to be unemployed, and reduce the
wages in the rest of the economy. The resulting allocation of labor is, critics argue,
both inefficient and inequitable. It is inefficient because high union wages reduce
employment in unionized firms below the efficient, competitive level. It is inequitable because some workers benefit at the expense of other workers.
Advocates contend that unions are a necessary antidote to the market power
of the firms that hire workers. The extreme case of this market power is the
“company town,” where a single firm does most of the hiring in a geographical
region. In a company town, if workers do not accept the wages and working conditions that the firm offers, they have little choice but to move or stop working.
In the absence of a union, therefore, the firm could use its market power to pay
lower wages and offer worse working conditions than would prevail if it had to
compete with other firms for the same workers. In this case, a union may balance
the firm’s market power and protect the workers from being at the mercy of the
firm’s owners.
Advocates of unions also claim that unions are important for helping firms
respond efficiently to workers’ concerns. Whenever a worker takes a job, the
worker and the firm must agree on many attributes of the job in addition to the
wage: hours of work, overtime, vacations, sick leave, health benefits, promotion
schedules, job security, and so on. By representing workers’ views on these issues,
unions allow firms to provide the right mix of job attributes. Even if unions have
the adverse effect of pushing wages above the equilibrium level and causing
unemployment, they have the benefit of helping firms keep a happy and productive workforce.
In the end, there is no consensus among economists about whether unions are
good or bad for the economy. Like many institutions, their influence is probably
beneficial in some circumstances and adverse in others.
QUICK QUIZ How does a union in the auto industry affect wages and employment
at General Motors and Ford? How does it affect wages and employment in other
industries?
The Theory of Efficiency Wages
efficiency wages
above-equilibrium wages
paid by firms to increase
worker productivity
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A fourth reason economies always experience some unemployment—in addition
to job search, minimum-wage laws, and unions—is suggested by the theory of
efficiency wages. According to this theory, firms operate more efficiently if wages
are above the equilibrium level. Therefore, it may be profitable for firms to keep
wages high even in the presence of a surplus of labor.
In some ways, the unemployment that arises from efficiency wages is similar
to the unemployment that arises from minimum-wage laws and unions. In all
three cases, unemployment is the result of wages above the level that balances
the quantity of labor supplied and the quantity of labor demanded. Yet there is
also an important difference. Minimum-wage laws and unions prevent firms from
lowering wages in the presence of a surplus of workers. Efficiency-wage theory
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states that such a constraint on firms is unnecessary in many cases because firms
may be better off keeping wages above the equilibrium level.
Why should firms want to keep wages high? This decision may seem odd
at first, for wages are a large part of firms’ costs. Normally, we expect profitmaximizing firms to want to keep costs—and therefore wages—as low as possible. The novel insight of efficiency-wage theory is that paying high wages might
be profitable because they might raise the efficiency of a firm’s workers.
There are several types of efficiency-wage theory. Each type suggests a different explanation for why firms may want to pay high wages. Let’s now consider
four of these types.
Worker Health
The first and simplest type of efficiency-wage theory emphasizes the link between
wages and worker health. Better paid workers eat a more nutritious diet, and
workers who eat a better diet are healthier and more productive. A firm may find
it more profitable to pay high wages and have healthy, productive workers than
to pay lower wages and have less healthy, less productive workers.
This type of efficiency-wage theory can be relevant for explaining unemployment in less developed countries where inadequate nutrition can be a problem. In
these countries, firms may fear that cutting wages would, in fact, adversely influence their workers’ health and productivity. In other words, nutrition concerns
may explain why firms may maintain above-equilibrium wages despite a surplus
of labor. Worker health concerns are far less relevant for firms in rich countries
such as the United States, where the equilibrium wages for most workers are well
above the level needed for an adequate diet.
Worker Turnover
A second type of efficiency-wage theory emphasizes the link between wages and
worker turnover. Workers quit jobs for many reasons: to take jobs in other firms,
to move to other parts of the country, to leave the labor force, and so on. The
frequency with which they quit depends on the entire set of incentives they face,
including the benefits of leaving and the benefits of staying. The more a firm pays
its workers, the less often its workers will choose to leave. Thus, a firm can reduce
turnover among its workers by paying them a high wage.
Why do firms care about turnover? The reason is that it is costly for firms to
hire and train new workers. Moreover, even after they are trained, newly hired
workers are not as productive as experienced workers. Firms with higher turnover, therefore, will tend to have higher production costs. Firms may find it profitable to pay wages above the equilibrium level to reduce worker turnover.
Worker Quality
A third type of efficiency-wage theory emphasizes the link between wages and
worker quality. All firms want workers who are talented, and they try to pick the best
applicants to fill job openings. But because firms cannot perfectly gauge the quality
of applicants, hiring has a degree of randomness to it. When a firm pays a high wage,
it attracts a better pool of workers to apply for its jobs and thereby increases the
quality of its workforce. If the firm responded to a surplus of labor by reducing the
wage, the most competent applicants—who are more likely to have better alternative
opportunities than less competent applicants—may choose not to apply. If this influence of the wage on worker quality is strong enough, it may be profitable for the firm
to pay a wage above the level that balances supply and demand.
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© SCOTT ADAMS / DIST. BY UNITED FEATURE
SYNDICATE, INC.
316
Worker Effort
A fourth and final type of efficiency-wage theory emphasizes the link between
wages and worker effort. In many jobs, workers have some discretion over how
hard to work. As a result, firms monitor the efforts of their workers, and workers caught shirking their responsibilities are fired. But not all shirkers are caught
immediately because monitoring workers is costly and imperfect. A firm in such
a circumstance is always looking for ways to deter shirking.
One solution is paying wages above the equilibrium level. High wages make
workers more eager to keep their jobs and, thereby, give workers an incentive to
put forward their best effort. If the wage were at the level that balanced supply
and demand, workers would have less reason to work hard because if they were
fired, they could quickly find new jobs at the same wage. Therefore, firms raise
wages above the equilibrium level, providing an incentive for workers not to
shirk their responsibilities.
Henry Ford and the Very Generous $5-a-Day Wage
Henry Ford was an industrial visionary. As founder of the Ford Motor Company,
he was responsible for introducing modern techniques of production. Rather than
building cars with small teams of skilled craftsmen, Ford built cars on assembly
lines in which unskilled workers were taught to perform the same simple tasks
over and over again. The output of this assembly process was the Model T Ford,
one of the most famous early automobiles.
In 1914, Ford introduced another innovation: the $5 workday. This might not
seem like much today, but back then $5 was about twice the going wage. It was
also far above the wage that balanced supply and demand. When the new $5-aday wage was announced, long lines of job seekers formed outside the Ford factories. The number of workers willing to work at this wage far exceeded the number
of workers Ford needed.
Ford’s high-wage policy had many of the effects predicted by efficiency-wage
theory. Turnover fell, absenteeism fell, and productivity rose. Workers were
so much more efficient that Ford’s production costs were lower despite higher
wages. Thus, paying a wage above the equilibrium level was profitable for the
firm. An historian of the early Ford Motor Company wrote, “Ford and his associates freely declared on many occasions that the high-wage policy turned out to
be good business. By this they meant that it had improved the discipline of the
workers, given them a more loyal interest in the institution, and raised their
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UNEMPLOYMENT
317
personal efficiency.” Henry Ford himself called the $5-a-day wage “one of the
finest cost-cutting moves we ever made.”
Why did it take Henry Ford to introduce this efficiency wage? Why were other
firms not already taking advantage of this seemingly profitable business strategy?
According to some analysts, Ford’s decision was closely linked to his use of the
assembly line. Workers organized in an assembly line are highly interdependent.
If one worker is absent or works slowly, other workers are less able to complete
their own tasks. Thus, while assembly lines made production more efficient, they
also raised the importance of low worker turnover, high worker effort, and high
worker quality. As a result, paying efficiency wages may have been a better strategy for the Ford Motor Company than for other businesses at the time. ■
QUICK QUIZ Give four explanations for why firms might find it profitable to pay
wages above the level that balances quantity of labor supplied and quantity of labor
demanded.
Conclusion
In this chapter, we discussed the measurement of unemployment and the reasons
economies always experience some degree of unemployment. We have seen how job
search, minimum-wage laws, unions, and efficiency wages can all help explain why
some workers do not have jobs. Which of these four explanations for the natural rate
of unemployment are the most important for the U.S. economy and other economies
around the world? Unfortunately, there is no easy way to tell. Economists differ in
which of these explanations of unemployment they consider most important.
The analysis of this chapter yields an important lesson: Although the economy
will always have some unemployment, its natural rate does change over time. Many
events and policies can alter the amount of unemployment the economy typically
experiences. As the information revolution changes the process of job search, as
Congress adjusts the minimum wage, as workers form or quit unions, and as firms
change their reliance on efficiency wages, the natural rate of unemployment evolves.
Unemployment is not a simple problem with a simple solution. But how we choose
to organize our society can profoundly influence how prevalent a problem it is.
SU
SUMMARY
•
The unemployment rate is the percentage of
those who would like to work who do not have
jobs. The Bureau of Labor Statistics calculates
this statistic monthly based on a survey of
thousands of households.
•
In the U.S. economy, most people who become
unemployed find work within a short period of
time. Nonetheless, most unemployment observed
at any given time is attributable to the few people
who are unemployed for long periods of time.
•
The unemployment rate is an imperfect measure
of joblessness. Some people who call themselves
unemployed may actually not want to work, and
some people who would like to work have left
the labor force after an unsuccessful search and
therefore are not counted as unemployed.
•
One reason for unemployment is the time it takes
workers to search for jobs that best suit their
tastes and skills. This frictional unemployment is
increased as a result of unemployment insurance,
a government policy designed to protect workers’
incomes.
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•
•
THE REAL ECONOMY IN THE LONG RUN
A second reason our economy always has some
unemployment is minimum-wage laws. By
raising the wage of unskilled and inexperienced
workers above the equilibrium level, minimumwage laws raise the quantity of labor supplied
and reduce the quantity demanded. The resulting
surplus of labor represents unemployment.
A third reason for unemployment is the market
power of unions. When unions push the wages
in unionized industries above the equilibrium
level, they create a surplus of labor.
•
A fourth reason for unemployment is suggested
by the theory of efficiency wages. According
to this theory, firms find it profitable to pay
wages above the equilibrium level. High wages
can improve worker health, lower worker
turnover, raise worker quality, and increase
worker effort.
KEY CONC
CONCEPTS
EPTS
labor force, p. 299
unemployment rate, p. 299
labor-force participation
rate, p. 299
natural rate of unemployment, p. 300
cyclical unemployment, p. 301
discouraged workers, p. 303
frictional unemployment, p. 305
structural unemployment, p. 306
job search, p. 306
unemployment insurance, p. 308
union, p. 312
collective bargaining, p. 313
strike, p. 313
efficiency wages, p. 314
QUEST IO
IONS
NS FOR
FO R R EVIEW
1. What are the three categories into which the
Bureau of Labor Statistics divides everyone?
How does the BLS compute the labor force,
the unemployment rate, and the labor-force
participation rate?
2. Is unemployment typically short term or long
term? Explain.
3. Why is frictional unemployment inevitable?
How might the government reduce the amount
of frictional unemployment?
4. Are minimum-wage laws a better explanation
for structural unemployment among teenagers
or among college graduates? Why?
5. How do unions affect the natural rate of
unemployment?
6. What claims do advocates of unions make to
argue that unions are good for the economy?
7. Explain four ways in which a firm might
increase its profits by raising the wages
it pays.
PROBLEMS AND APPLICATIONS
APPLICATIO NS
1. The Bureau of Labor Statistics announced
that in April 2010, of all adult Americans,
139,455,000 were employed, 15,260,000 were
unemployed, and 82,614,000 were not in the
labor force. Use this information to calculate:
a. the adult population
b. the labor force
c. the labor-force participation rate
d. the unemployment rate
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-028.indd 614
2. Go to the website of the Bureau of Labor
Statistics (http://www.bls.gov). What is the
national unemployment rate right now? Find
the unemployment rate for the demographic
group that best fits a description of you
(for example, based on age, sex, and race).
Is it higher or lower than the national average?
Why do you think this is so?
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CHAPTER 15
3. Between 2004 and 2007, total U.S. employment
increased by 6.8 million workers, but the
number of unemployed workers declined
by only 1.1 million. How are these numbers
consistent with each other? Why might one
expect a reduction in the number of people
counted as unemployed to be smaller than the
increase in the number of people employed?
4. Economists use labor-market data to evaluate
how well an economy is using its most valuable
resource—its people. Two closely watched
statistics are the unemployment rate and the
employment-population ratio. Explain what
happens to each of these in the following
scenarios. In your opinion, which statistic is
the more meaningful gauge of how well the
economy is doing?
a. An auto company goes bankrupt and lays off
its workers, who immediately start looking
for new jobs.
b. After an unsuccessful search, some of the
laid-off workers quit looking for new jobs.
c. Numerous students graduate from college
but cannot find work.
d. Numerous students graduate from college
and immediately begin new jobs.
e. A stock market boom induces newly
enriched 60-year-old workers to take early
retirement.
f. Advances in healthcare prolong the life of
many retirees.
5. Are the following workers more likely
to experience short-term or long-term
unemployment? Explain.
a. A construction worker laid off because of bad
weather
b. A manufacturing worker who loses her job at
a plant in an isolated area
c. A stagecoach-industry worker laid off
because of competition from railroads
d. A short-order cook who loses his job when a
new restaurant opens across the street
e. An expert welder with little formal education
who loses her job when the company installs
automatic welding machinery
6. Using a diagram of the labor market, show
the effect of an increase in the minimum
wage on the wage paid to workers, the
number of workers supplied, the number
of workers demanded, and the amount of
unemployment.
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UNEMPLOYMENT
319
7. Consider an economy with two labor markets—
one for manufacturing workers and one for
service workers. Suppose initially that neither is
unionized.
a. If manufacturing workers formed a union,
what impact on the wages and employment
in manufacturing would you predict?
b. How would these changes in the
manufacturing labor market affect the
supply of labor in the market for service
workers? What would happen to the
equilibrium wage and employment in this
labor market?
8. Structural unemployment is sometimes said
to result from a mismatch between the job
skills that employers want and the job skills
that workers have. To explore this idea,
consider an economy with two industries: auto
manufacturing and aircraft manufacturing.
a. If workers in these two industries require
similar amounts of training, and if workers
at the beginning of their careers could choose
which industry to train for, what would you
expect to happen to the wages in these two
industries? How long would this process
take? Explain.
b. Suppose that one day the economy opens
itself to international trade and, as a result,
starts importing autos and exporting aircraft.
What would happen to demand for labor in
these two industries?
c. Suppose that workers in one industry
cannot be quickly retrained for the other.
How would these shifts in demand affect
equilibrium wages both in the short run and
in the long run?
d. If for some reason wages fail to adjust
to the new equilibrium levels, what would
occur?
9. Suppose that Congress passes a law requiring
employers to provide employees some benefit
(such as healthcare) that raises the cost of an
employee by $4 per hour.
a. What effect does this employer mandate have
on the demand for labor? (In answering this
and the following questions, be quantitative
when you can.)
b. If employees place a value on this benefit
exactly equal to its cost, what effect does this
employer mandate have on the supply of
labor?
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c. If the wage is free to balance supply and
demand, how does this law affect the wage
and the level of employment? Are employers
better or worse off? Are employees better or
worse off?
d. Suppose that, before the mandate, the
wage in this market was $3 above the
minimum wage. In this case, how does
the employer mandate affect the wage,
the level of employment, and the level of
unemployment?
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-028.indd 616
e. Now suppose that workers do not value
the mandated benefit at all. How does this
alternative assumption change your answers
to parts (b) and (c)?
For further information on topics in this chapter,
additional problems, applications, examples, online
quizzes, and more, please visit our website at www
.cengage.com/economics/mankiw
g g
/
/
.
.cengage.com/economics/mankiw.
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VI
PART
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Money and Prices in
the Long Run
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The Monetary System
16
W
hen you walk into a restaurant to buy a meal, you get something of
value—a full stomach. To pay for this service, you might hand the
restaurateur several worn-out pieces of greenish paper decorated
with strange symbols, government buildings, and the portraits of
famous dead Americans. Or you might hand him a single piece of paper with the
name of a bank and your signature. Whether you pay by cash or check, the restaurateur is happy to work hard to satisfy your gastronomical desires in exchange for
these pieces of paper which, in and of themselves, are worthless.
To anyone who has lived in a modern economy, this social custom is not at all
odd. Even though paper money has no intrinsic value, the restaurateur is confident that, in the future, some third person will accept it in exchange for something
that the restaurateur does value. And that third person is confident that some
fourth person will accept the money, with the knowledge that yet a fifth person
323
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will accept the money . . . and so on. To the restaurateur and to other people in our
society, your cash or check represents a claim to goods and services in the future.
The social custom of using money for transactions is extraordinarily useful in
a large, complex society. Imagine, for a moment, that there was no item in the
economy widely accepted in exchange for goods and services. People would have
to rely on barter—the exchange of one good or service for another—to obtain the
things they need. To get your restaurant meal, for instance, you would have to
offer the restaurateur something of immediate value. You could offer to wash
some dishes, clean his car, or give him your family’s secret recipe for meat loaf.
An economy that relies on barter will have trouble allocating its scarce resources
efficiently. In such an economy, trade is said to require the double coincidence of
wants—the unlikely occurrence that two people each have a good or service that
the other wants.
The existence of money makes trade easier. The restaurateur does not care
whether you can produce a valuable good or service for him. He is happy to
accept your money, knowing that other people will do the same for him. Such a
convention allows trade to be roundabout. The restaurateur accepts your money
and uses it to pay his chef; the chef uses her paycheck to send her child to day
care; the day care center uses this tuition to pay a teacher; and the teacher hires
you to mow his lawn. As money flows from person to person in the economy,
it facilitates production and trade, thereby allowing each person to specialize in
what he or she does best and raising everyone’s standard of living.
In this chapter, we begin to examine the role of money in the economy. We
discuss what money is, the various forms that money takes, how the banking system helps create money, and how the government controls the quantity of money
in circulation. Because money is so important in the economy, we devote much
effort in the rest of this book to learning how changes in the quantity of money
affect various economic variables, including inflation, interest rates, production,
and employment. Consistent with our long-run focus in the previous four chapters, in the next chapter we examine the long-run effects of changes in the quantity
of money. The short-run effects of monetary changes are a more complex topic,
which we take up later in the book. This chapter provides the background for all
of this further analysis.
The Meaning of Money
money
the set of assets in an
economy that people
regularly use to buy
goods and services from
other people
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-029.indd 620
What is money? This might seem like an odd question. When you read that billionaire Bill Gates has a lot of money, you know what that means: He is so rich
that he can buy almost anything he wants. In this sense, the term money is used
to mean wealth.
Economists, however, use the word in a more specific sense: Money is the set
of assets in the economy that people regularly use to buy goods and services from
each other. The cash in your wallet is money because you can use it to buy a meal
at a restaurant or a shirt at a clothing store. By contrast, if you happened to own
a large share of Microsoft Corporation, as Bill Gates does, you would be wealthy,
but this asset is not considered a form of money. You could not buy a meal or a
shirt with this wealth without first obtaining some cash. According to the economist’s definition, money includes only those few types of wealth that are regularly
accepted by sellers in exchange for goods and services.
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325
The Functions of Money
Money has three functions in the economy: It is a medium of exchange, a unit of
account, and a store of value. These three functions together distinguish money
from other assets in the economy, such as stocks, bonds, real estate, art, and even
baseball cards. Let’s examine each of these functions of money in turn.
A medium of exchange is an item that buyers give to sellers when they purchase goods and services. When you buy a shirt at a clothing store, the store gives
you the shirt, and you give the store your money. This transfer of money from
buyer to seller allows the transaction to take place. When you walk into a store,
you are confident that the store will accept your money for the items it is selling
because money is the commonly accepted medium of exchange.
A unit of account is the yardstick people use to post prices and record debts.
When you go shopping, you might observe that a shirt costs $30 and a hamburger
costs $3. Even though it would be accurate to say that the price of a shirt is 10
hamburgers and the price of a hamburger is 1⁄10 of a shirt, prices are never quoted
in this way. Similarly, if you take out a loan from a bank, the size of your future
loan repayments will be measured in dollars, not in a quantity of goods and services. When we want to measure and record economic value, we use money as
the unit of account.
A store of value is an item that people can use to transfer purchasing power
from the present to the future. When a seller accepts money today in exchange for a
good or service, that seller can hold the money and become a buyer of another good
or service at another time. Money is not the only store of value in the economy: A
person can also transfer purchasing power from the present to the future by holding nonmonetary assets such as stocks and bonds. The term wealth is used to refer
to the total of all stores of value, including both money and nonmonetary assets.
Economists use the term liquidity to describe the ease with which an asset
can be converted into the economy’s medium of exchange. Because money is the
economy’s medium of exchange, it is the most liquid asset available. Other assets
vary widely in their liquidity. Most stocks and bonds can be sold easily with small
cost, so they are relatively liquid assets. By contrast, selling a house, a Rembrandt
painting, or a 1948 Joe DiMaggio baseball card requires more time and effort, so
these assets are less liquid.
When people decide in what form to hold their wealth, they have to balance the
liquidity of each possible asset against the asset’s usefulness as a store of value.
Money is the most liquid asset, but it is far from perfect as a store of value. When
prices rise, the value of money falls. In other words, when goods and services
become more expensive, each dollar in your wallet can buy less. This link between
the price level and the value of money is key to understanding how money affects
the economy, a topic we start to explore in the next chapter.
medium of exchange
an item that buyers give
to sellers when they want
to purchase goods and
services
unit of account
the yardstick people use
to post prices and record
debts
store of value
an item that people can
use to transfer purchasing
power from the present
to the future
liquidity
the ease with which an
asset can be converted
into the economy’s
medium of exchange
The Kinds of Money
When money takes the form of a commodity with intrinsic value, it is called
commodity money. The term intrinsic value means that the item would have value
even if it were not used as money. One example of commodity money is gold.
Gold has intrinsic value because it is used in industry and in the making of jewelry. Although today we no longer use gold as money, historically gold has been a
common form of money because it is relatively easy to carry, measure, and verify
for impurities. When an economy uses gold as money (or uses paper money that is
convertible into gold on demand), it is said to be operating under a gold standard.
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-029.indd 621
commodity money
money that takes the
form of a commodity with
intrinsic value
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fiat money
money without intrinsic
value that is used as
money because of
government decree
Another example of commodity money is cigarettes. In prisoner-of-war camps
during World War II, prisoners traded goods and services with one another
using cigarettes as the store of value, unit of account, and medium of exchange.
Similarly, as the Soviet Union was breaking up in the late 1980s, cigarettes started
replacing the ruble as the preferred currency in Moscow. In both cases, even nonsmokers were happy to accept cigarettes in an exchange, knowing that they could
use the cigarettes to buy other goods and services.
Money without intrinsic value is called fiat money. A fiat is an order or decree,
and fiat money is established as money by government decree. For example,
compare the paper dollars in your wallet (printed by the U.S. government) and
the paper dollars from a game of Monopoly (printed by the Parker Brothers game
company). Why can you use the first to pay your bill at a restaurant but not the
second? The answer is that the U.S. government has decreed its dollars to be valid
money. Each paper dollar in your wallet reads: “This note is legal tender for all
debts, public and private.”
Although the government is central to establishing and regulating a system
of fiat money (by prosecuting counterfeiters, for example), other factors are also
required for the success of such a monetary system. To a large extent, the acceptance of fiat money depends as much on expectations and social convention as
on government decree. The Soviet government in the 1980s never abandoned
the ruble as the official currency. Yet the people of Moscow preferred to accept
cigarettes (or even American dollars) in exchange for goods and services because
they were more confident that these alternative monies would be accepted by
others in the future.
in the news
Mackereleconomics
Money evolves naturally to facilitate exchange, even in prisons.
Packs of Fish Catch
on as Currency
BY JUSTIN SCHECK
W
hen Larry Levine helped prepare
divorce papers for a client a few years
ago, he got paid in mackerel. Once the case
ended, he says, “I had a stack of macks.”
Mr. Levine and his client were prisoners
in California’s Lompoc Federal Correctional
Complex. Like other federal inmates around
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-029.indd 622
the country, they found a can of mackerel—
the “mack” in prison lingo—was the standard
currency.
“It’s the coin of the realm,” says Mark
Bailey, who paid Mr. Levine in fish. Mr. Bailey
was serving a two-year tax-fraud sentence
in connection with a chain of strip clubs he
owned. Mr. Levine was serving a nine-year
term for drug dealing. Mr. Levine says he
used his macks to get his beard trimmed, his
clothes pressed and his shoes shined by other
prisoners. “A haircut is two macks,” he says,
as an expected tip for inmates who work in
the prison barber shop.
There’s been a mackerel economy in
federal prisons since about 2004, former
inmates and some prison consultants say.
That’s when federal prisons prohibited
smoking and, by default, the cigarette pack,
which was the earlier gold standard.
Prisoners need a proxy for the dollar
because they’re not allowed to possess
cash. Money they get from prison jobs
(which pay a maximum of 40 cents an hour,
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327
Money in the U.S. Economy
© STEFANIE MOHR PHOTOGRAPHY/SHUTTERSTOCK
As we will see, the quantity of money circulating in the economy, called the money
stock, has a powerful influence on many economic variables. But before we consider why that is true, we need to ask a preliminary question: What is the quantity
of money? In particular, suppose you were given the task of measuring how much
money there is in the U.S. economy. What would you include in your measure?
The most obvious asset to include is currency—the paper bills and coins in
the hands of the public. Currency is clearly the most widely accepted medium
of exchange in our economy. There is no doubt that it is part of the money stock.
Yet currency is not the only asset that you can use to buy goods and services.
Many stores also accept personal checks. Wealth held in your checking account is
almost as convenient for buying things as wealth held in your wallet. To measure
the money stock, therefore, you might want to include demand deposits—
balances in bank accounts that depositors can access on demand simply by writing a check or swiping a debit card at a store.
Once you start to consider balances in checking accounts as part of the money
stock, you are led to consider the large variety of other accounts that people hold
at banks and other financial institutions. Bank depositors usually cannot write
checks against the balances in their savings accounts, but they can easily transfer
funds from savings into checking accounts. In addition, depositors in money market mutual funds can often write checks against their balances. Thus, these other
accounts should plausibly be part of the U.S. money stock.
according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons)
or family members goes into commissary
accounts that let them buy things such as
food and toiletries. After the smokes disappeared, inmates turned to other items on
the commissary menu to use as currency.
Books of stamps were one easy alternative. “It was like half a book for a piece of
fruit,” says Tony Serra, a well-known San
Francisco criminal-defense attorney who last
year finished nine months in Lompoc on
tax charges. Elsewhere in the West, prisoners use PowerBars or cans of tuna, says
Ed Bales, a consultant who advises people
who are headed to prison. But in much of
the federal prison system, he says, mackerel
has become the currency of choice.
Mackerel supplier Global Source Marketing Inc. says demand from prisons has
grown since 2004. In recent years, demand
has switched from cans—which wardens
don’t like because inmates can turn them into
makeshift knives—to plastic-and-foil pouches
of mackerel fillets, says Jon Linder, a vice
president at supplier Power Commissary Inc.,
in Bohemia, N.Y.
Mackerel is hot in prisons in the U.S.,
but not so much anywhere else, says Mark
Muntz, president of Global Source, which
imports fillets of the oily, dark-fleshed fish
from Asian canneries. Mr. Muntz says he’s
tried marketing mackerel to discount retailers. “We’ve even tried 99-cent stores,” he
says. “It never has done very well at all,
regardless of the retailer, but it’s very popular in the prisons.”
Mr. Muntz says he sold more than
$1 million of mackerel for federal prison
commissaries last year. It accounted for
about half his commissary sales, he says,
outstripping the canned tuna, crab, chicken
and oysters he offers.
Unlike those more expensive delicacies,
former prisoners say, the mack is a good
currency
the paper bills and coins
in the hands of the public
demand deposits
balances in bank accounts
that depositors can access
on demand by writing a
check
stand-in for the greenback because each
can (or pouch) costs about $1 and few—
other than weight-lifters craving protein—
want to eat it.
So inmates stash macks in lockers provided
by the prison and use them to buy goods,
including illicit ones such as stolen food and
home-brewed “prison hooch,” as well as services, such as shoeshines and cell cleaning.
“When I grow up, I am going to
be a medium of exchange, unit of
account, and store of value.”
Source: The Wall Street Journal, October 2, 2008.
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FYI
Why Credit Cards Aren’t Money
I
t might seem natural to include credit cards as part of the economy’s stock of money. After all, people use credit cards to make
many of their purchases. Aren’t credit cards, therefore, a medium
of exchange?
At first this argument may seem persuasive, but credit cards are
excluded from all measures of the quantity of money. The reason is
that credit cards are not really a method of payment but a method
of deferring payment. When you buy a meal with a credit card, the
bank that issued the card pays the restaurant what it is due. At a
later date, you will have to repay the bank (perhaps with interest).
When the time comes to pay your credit card bill, you will probably
do so by writing a check against your checking account. The balance
in this checking account is part of the economy’s stock of money.
Notice that credit cards are very different from debit cards,
which automatically withdraw funds from a bank account to pay
for items bought. Rather than allowing the user to postpone payment for a purchase, a debit card allows the user immediate access
to deposits in a bank account. In this sense, a debit card is more
similar to a check than to a credit card. The account balances that
lie behind debit cards are included in measures of the quantity of
money.
Even though credit cards are not considered a form of money,
they are nonetheless important for analyzing the monetary system. People who have credit cards can pay many of their bills
together at the end of the month, rather than sporadically as they
make purchases. As a result, people who have credit cards probably hold less money on average than people who do not have
credit cards. Thus, the introduction and increased popularity of
credit cards may reduce the amount of money that people choose
to hold.
In a complex economy such as ours, it is not easy to draw a line between assets
that can be called “money” and assets that cannot. The coins in your pocket
clearly are part of the money stock, and the Empire State Building clearly is not,
but there are many assets in between these extremes for which the choice is less
clear. Because different analysts can reasonably disagree about where to draw the
dividing line between monetary and nonmonetary assets, various measures of
the money stock are available for the U.S. economy. Figure 1 shows the two most
commonly used, designated M1 and M2. M2 includes more assets in its measure
of money than does M1.
For our purposes in this book, we need not dwell on the differences between
the various measures of money. None of our discussion will hinge on the distinction between M1 and M2. The important point is that the money stock for the U.S.
economy includes not just currency but also deposits in banks and other financial
institutions that can be readily accessed and used to buy goods and services.
Where Is All the Currency?
One puzzle about the money stock of the U.S. economy concerns the amount of
currency. At the end of 2009, there was $862 billion of currency outstanding. To
put this number in perspective, we can divide it by 236 million, the number of
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Figure
Billions
of Dollars
M2
$8,544
$1,696
• Savings deposits
• Small time deposits
• Money market
mutual funds
• A few minor categories
($6,848 billion)
M1
• Demand deposits
• Traveler’s checks
• Other checkable deposits
($834 billion)
• Currency
($862 billion)
• Everything in M1
($1,696 billion)
329
1
Two Measures of
the Money Stock for
the U.S. Economy
The two most widely
followed measures of the
money stock are M1 and M2.
This figure shows the size of
each measure in 2009.
Source: Federal Reserve.
adults (age 16 and older) in the United States. This calculation implies that the
average adult holds about $3,653 of currency. Most people are surprised to learn
that our economy has so much currency because they carry far less than this in
their wallets.
Who is holding all this currency? No one knows for sure, but there are two
plausible explanations.
The first explanation is that much of the currency is held abroad. In foreign
countries without a stable monetary system, people often prefer U.S. dollars to
domestic assets. It is, in fact, not unusual to see U.S. dollars used overseas as the
medium of exchange, unit of account, and store of value.
The second explanation is that much of the currency is held by drug dealers, tax
evaders, and other criminals. For most people in the U.S. economy, currency is not
a particularly good way to hold wealth. Not only can currency be lost or stolen,
but it also does not earn interest, whereas a bank deposit does. Thus, most people
hold only small amounts of currency. By contrast, criminals may avoid putting their
wealth in banks because a bank deposit gives police a paper trail they can use to trace
illegal activities. For criminals, currency may be the best store of value available. ■
QUICK QUIZ List and describe the three functions of money.
The Federal Reserve System
Whenever an economy uses a system of fiat money, as the U.S. economy does,
some agency must be responsible for regulating the system. In the United States,
that agency is the Federal Reserve, often simply called the Fed. If you look at the
top of a dollar bill, you will see that it is called a “Federal Reserve Note.” The Fed
is an example of a central bank—an institution designed to oversee the banking
system and regulate the quantity of money in the economy. Other major central
banks around the world include the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan, and the
European Central Bank.
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-029.indd 625
Federal Reserve
(Fed)
the central bank of the
United States
central bank
an institution designed
to oversee the banking
system and regulate the
quantity of money in the
economy
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The Fed’s Organization
money supply
the quantity of money
available in the economy
monetary policy
the setting of the money
supply by policymakers in
the central bank
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-029.indd 626
The Federal Reserve was created in 1913 after a series of bank failures in 1907
convinced Congress that the United States needed a central bank to ensure the
health of the nation’s banking system. Today, the Fed is run by its board of governors, which has seven members appointed by the president and confirmed by the
Senate. The governors have fourteen-year terms. Just as federal judges are given
lifetime appointments to insulate them from politics, Fed governors are given long
terms to give them independence from short-term political pressures when they
formulate monetary policy.
Among the seven members of the board of governors, the most important is
the chairman. The chairman directs the Fed staff, presides over board meetings,
and testifies regularly about Fed policy in front of congressional committees. The
president appoints the chairman to a four-year term. As this book was going to
press, the chairman of the Fed was Ben Bernanke, a former economics professor
who was appointed to the Fed job by President George W. Bush in 2005 and reappointed by President Barack Obama in 2009.
The Federal Reserve System is made up of the Federal Reserve Board in
Washington, D.C., and twelve regional Federal Reserve Banks located in major
cities around the country. The presidents of the regional banks are chosen by each
bank’s board of directors, whose members are typically drawn from the region’s
banking and business community.
The Fed has two related jobs. The first is to regulate banks and ensure the
health of the banking system. This task is largely the responsibility of the regional
Federal Reserve Banks. In particular, the Fed monitors each bank’s financial condition and facilitates bank transactions by clearing checks. It also acts as a bank’s
bank. That is, the Fed makes loans to banks when banks themselves want to borrow. When financially troubled banks find themselves short of cash, the Fed acts
as a lender of last resort—a lender to those who cannot borrow anywhere else—to
maintain stability in the overall banking system.
The Fed’s second and more important job is to control the quantity of money
that is made available in the economy, called the money supply. Decisions by
policymakers concerning the money supply constitute monetary policy. At the
Federal Reserve, monetary policy is made by the Federal Open Market Committee
(FOMC). The FOMC meets about every six weeks in Washington, D.C., to discuss
the condition of the economy and consider changes in monetary policy.
The Federal Open Market Committee
The Federal Open Market Committee is made up of the seven members of
the board of governors and five of the twelve regional bank presidents. All
twelve regional presidents attend each FOMC meeting, but only five get to
vote. The five with voting rights rotate among the twelve regional presidents
over time. The president of the New York Fed always gets a vote, however,
because New York is the traditional financial center of the U.S. economy and
because all Fed purchases and sales of government bonds are conducted at the
New York Fed’s trading desk.
Through the decisions of the FOMC, the Fed has the power to increase or
decrease the number of dollars in the economy. In simple metaphorical terms,
you can imagine the Fed printing dollar bills and dropping them around the
country by helicopter. Similarly, you can imagine the Fed using a giant vacuum
cleaner to suck dollar bills out of people’s wallets. Although in practice the Fed’s
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methods for changing the money supply are more complex and subtle than this,
the helicopter-vacuum metaphor is a good first step to understanding the meaning of monetary policy.
Later in this chapter, we discuss how the Fed actually changes the money
supply, but it is worth noting here that the Fed’s primary tool is the open-market
operation—the purchase and sale of U.S. government bonds. (Recall that a U.S.
government bond is a certificate of indebtedness of the federal government.) If
the FOMC decides to increase the money supply, the Fed creates dollars and uses
them to buy government bonds from the public in the nation’s bond markets.
After the purchase, these dollars are in the hands of the public. Thus, an openmarket purchase of bonds by the Fed increases the money supply. Conversely, if
the FOMC decides to decrease the money supply, the Fed sells government bonds
from its portfolio to the public in the nation’s bond markets. After the sale, the
dollars it receives for the bonds are out of the hands of the public. Thus, an openmarket sale of bonds by the Fed decreases the money supply.
Central banks are important institutions because changes in the money supply can profoundly affect the economy. One of the Ten Principles of Economics
in Chapter 1 is that prices rise when the government prints too much money.
Another of the Ten Principles of Economics is that society faces a short-run trade-off
between inflation and unemployment. The power of the Fed rests on these principles. For reasons we discuss more fully in the coming chapters, the Fed’s policy
decisions have an important influence on the economy’s rate of inflation in the
long run and the economy’s employment and production in the short run. Indeed,
the chairman of the Federal Reserve has been called the second most powerful
person in the United States.
QUICK QUIZ What are the primary responsibilities of the Federal Reserve? If the Fed
wants to increase the supply of money, how does it usually do so?
© MICK STEVENS. THE NEW YORKER
COLLECTION/ WWW.CARTOONBANK.COM
Banks and the Money Supply
So far, we have introduced the concept of “money” and discussed how the
Federal Reserve controls the supply of money by buying and selling government
bonds in open-market operations. Although this explanation of the money supply
is correct, it is not complete. In particular, it omits the central role that banks play
in the monetary system.
Recall that the amount of money you hold includes both currency (the bills in
your wallet and coins in your pocket) and demand deposits (the balance in your
checking account). Because demand deposits are held in banks, the behavior of
banks can influence the quantity of demand deposits in the economy and, therefore,
the money supply. This section examines how banks affect the money supply and,
in doing so, how they complicate the Fed’s job of controlling the money supply.
The Simple Case of 100-Percent-Reserve Banking
"I've heard a lot about
money, and now I'd like
to try some."
To see how banks influence the money supply, let’s first imagine a world without
any banks at all. In this simple world, currency is the only form of money. To be
concrete, let’s suppose that the total quantity of currency is $100. The supply of
money is, therefore, $100.
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reserves
deposits that banks have
received but have not
loaned out
Now suppose that someone opens a bank, appropriately called First National
Bank. First National Bank is only a depository institution—that is, it accepts
deposits but does not make loans. The purpose of the bank is to give depositors
a safe place to keep their money. Whenever a person deposits some money, the
bank keeps the money in its vault until the depositor withdraws it, writes a
check, or uses a debit card to access his or her balance. Deposits that banks have
received but have not loaned out are called reserves. In this imaginary economy, all deposits are held as reserves, so this system is called 100-percent-reserve
banking.
We can express the financial position of First National Bank with a T-account,
which is a simplified accounting statement that shows changes in a bank’s assets
and liabilities. Here is the T-account for First National Bank if the economy’s
entire $100 of money is deposited in the bank:
First National Bank
Assets
Reserves
Liabilities
$100.00
Deposits
$100.00
On the left side of the T-account are the bank’s assets of $100 (the reserves it holds
in its vaults). On the right side are the bank’s liabilities of $100 (the amount it owes
to its depositors). Because the assets and liabilities of First National Bank exactly
balance, this accounting statement is sometimes called a balance sheet.
Now consider the money supply in this imaginary economy. Before First
National Bank opens, the money supply is the $100 of currency that people are
holding. After the bank opens and people deposit their currency, the money supply is the $100 of demand deposits. (There is no longer any currency outstanding, for it is all in the bank vault.) Each deposit in the bank reduces currency and
raises demand deposits by exactly the same amount, leaving the money supply
unchanged. Thus, if banks hold all deposits in reserve, banks do not influence the supply
of money.
Money Creation with Fractional-Reserve Banking
fractional-reserve
banking
a banking system in
which banks hold only
a fraction of deposits as
reserves
reserve ratio
the fraction of deposits
that banks hold as
reserves
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-029.indd 628
Eventually, the bankers at First National Bank may start to reconsider their policy
of 100-percent-reserve banking. Leaving all that money idle in their vaults seems
unnecessary. Why not lend some of it out and earn a profit by charging interest
on the loans? Families buying houses, firms building new factories, and students
paying for college would all be happy to pay interest to borrow some of that
money for a while. First National Bank has to keep some reserves so that currency is available if depositors want to make withdrawals. But if the flow of new
deposits is roughly the same as the flow of withdrawals, First National needs to
keep only a fraction of its deposits in reserve. Thus, First National adopts a system
called fractional-reserve banking.
The fraction of total deposits that a bank holds as reserves is called the reserve
ratio. This ratio is determined by a combination of government regulation and
bank policy. As we discuss more fully later in the chapter, the Fed sets a minimum
amount of reserves that banks must hold, called a reserve requirement. In addition,
banks may hold reserves above the legal minimum, called excess reserves, so they
can be more confident that they will not run short of cash. For our purpose here,
we take the reserve ratio as given to examine how fractional-reserve banking
influences the money supply.
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Let’s suppose that First National has a reserve ratio of 1/10, or 10 percent. This
means that it keeps 10 percent of its deposits in reserve and loans out the rest.
Now let’s look again at the bank’s T-account:
First National Bank
Assets
Liabilities
Reserves
$10.00
Loans
Deposits
$100.00
90.00
First National still has $100 in liabilities because making the loans did not alter the
bank’s obligation to its depositors. But now the bank has two kinds of assets: It has
$10 of reserves in its vault, and it has loans of $90. (These loans are liabilities of
the people taking out the loans, but they are assets of the bank making the loans
because the borrowers will later repay the bank.) In total, First National’s assets
still equal its liabilities.
Once again consider the supply of money in the economy. Before First
National makes any loans, the money supply is the $100 of deposits in the bank.
Yet when First National makes these loans, the money supply increases. The
depositors still have demand deposits totaling $100, but now the borrowers
hold $90 in currency. The money supply (which equals currency plus demand
deposits) equals $190. Thus, when banks hold only a fraction of deposits in reserve,
banks create money.
At first, this creation of money by fractional-reserve banking may seem too good
to be true: It appears that the bank has created money out of thin air. To make this
creation of money seem less miraculous, note that when First National Bank loans
out some of its reserves and creates money, it does not create any wealth. Loans from
First National give the borrowers some currency and thus the ability to buy goods
and services. Yet the borrowers are also taking on debts, so the loans do not make
them any richer. In other words, as a bank creates the asset of money, it also creates
a corresponding liability for those who borrowed the created money. At the end of
this process of money creation, the economy is more liquid in the sense that there
is more of the medium of exchange, but the economy is no wealthier than before.
The Money Multiplier
The creation of money does not stop with First National Bank. Suppose the borrower from First National uses the $90 to buy something from someone who then
deposits the currency in Second National Bank. Here is the T-account for Second
National Bank:
Second National Bank
Assets
Reserves
Loans
Liabilities
$ 9.00
Deposits
$90.00
81.00
After the deposit, this bank has liabilities of $90. If Second National also has a
reserve ratio of 10 percent, it keeps assets of $9 in reserve and makes $81 in loans.
In this way, Second National Bank creates an additional $81 of money. If this $81
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is eventually deposited in Third National Bank, which also has a reserve ratio of
10 percent, this bank keeps $8.10 in reserve and makes $72.90 in loans. Here is the
T-account for Third National Bank:
Third National Bank
Assets
Reserves
Loans
Liabilities
$ 8.10
Deposits
$81.00
72.90
The process goes on and on. Each time that money is deposited and a bank loan
is made, more money is created.
How much money is eventually created in this economy? Let’s add it up:
money multiplier
the amount of money the
banking system generates
with each dollar of
reserves
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-029.indd 630
Original deposit
First National lending
Second National lending
Third National lending
•
•
•
=
=
=
=
Total money supply
= $1,000.00
$100.00
$ 90.00 [= .9 × $100.00]
$ 81.00 [= .9 × $90.00]
$ 72.90 [= .9 × $81.00]
•
•
•
It turns out that even though this process of money creation can continue forever,
it does not create an infinite amount of money. If you laboriously add the infinite
sequence of numbers in the preceding example, you find the $100 of reserves
generates $1,000 of money. The amount of money the banking system generates
with each dollar of reserves is called the money multiplier. In this imaginary
economy, where the $100 of reserves generates $1,000 of money, the money
multiplier is 10.
What determines the size of the money multiplier? It turns out that the
answer is simple: The money multiplier is the reciprocal of the reserve ratio. If R
is the reserve ratio for all banks in the economy, then each dollar of reserves
generates 1/R dollars of money. In our example, R = 1/10, so the money multiplier is 10.
This reciprocal formula for the money multiplier makes sense. If a bank holds
$1,000 in deposits, then a reserve ratio of 1/10 (10 percent) means that the bank
must hold $100 in reserves. The money multiplier just turns this idea around: If
the banking system as a whole holds a total of $100 in reserves, it can have only
$1,000 in deposits. In other words, if R is the ratio of reserves to deposits at each
bank (that is, the reserve ratio), then the ratio of deposits to reserves in the banking system (that is, the money multiplier) must be 1/R.
This formula shows how the amount of money banks create depends on the
reserve ratio. If the reserve ratio were only 1/20 (5 percent), then the banking system would have 20 times as much in deposits as in reserves, implying a money
multiplier of 20. Each dollar of reserves would generate $20 of money. Similarly,
if the reserve ratio were 1/4 (25 percent), deposits would be 4 times reserves, the
money multiplier would be 4, and each dollar of reserves would generate $4 of
money. Thus, the higher the reserve ratio, the less of each deposit banks loan out, and
the smaller the money multiplier. In the special case of 100-percent-reserve banking,
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335
the reserve ratio is 1, the money multiplier is 1, and banks do not make loans or
create money.
Bank Capital, Leverage, and the Financial
Crisis of 2008–2009
In the previous sections, we have seen a very simplified explanation of how banks
work. The reality of modern banking, however, is a bit more complicated, and this
complex reality played a leading role in the financial crisis of 2008 and 2009. Before
looking at that crisis, we need to learn a bit more about how banks actually function.
In the bank balance sheets you have seen so far, a bank accepts deposits and
uses those deposits either to make loans or to hold reserves. More realistically, a
bank gets financial resources not only from accepting deposits but also, like other
companies, from issuing equity and debt. The resources that a bank obtains from
issuing equity to its owners are called bank capital. A bank uses these financial
resources in various ways to generate profit for its owners. It not only makes loans
and holds reserves but also buys financial securities, such as stocks and bonds.
Here is a more realistic example of a bank’s balance sheet:
bank capital
the resources a bank’s
owners have put into the
institution
More Realistic National Bank
Assets
Reserves
Liabilities and Owners’ Equity
$200
Deposits
Loans
700
Debt
Securities
100
Capital (owners’ equity)
$800
150
50
On the right side of this balance sheet are the bank’s liabilities and capital (also
known as owners’ equity). This bank obtained $50 of resources from its owners. It
also took in $800 of deposits and issued $150 of debt. The total of $1,000 was put
to use in three ways; these are listed on the left side of the balance sheet, which
shows the bank’s assets. This bank held $200 in reserves, made $700 in bank loans,
and used $100 to buy financial securities, such as government or corporate bonds.
The bank decides how to allocate its resources among asset classes based on their
risk and return, as well as on any regulations (such as reserve requirements) that
restrict the bank’s choices.
By the rules of accounting, the reserves, loans, and securities on the left side
of the balance sheet must always equal, in total, the deposits, debt, and capital
on the right side of the balance sheet. There is no magic in this equality. It occurs
because the value of the owners’ equity is, by definition, the value of the bank’s
assets (reserves, loans, and securities) minus the value of its liabilities (deposits
and debt). Therefore, the left and right hand sides of the balance sheet always sum
to the same total.
Many businesses in the economy rely on leverage, the use of borrowed money
to supplement existing funds for investment purposes. Indeed, whenever anyone
uses debt to finance an investment project, he is applying leverage. Leverage is
particularly important for banks, however, because borrowing and lending are at
the heart of what they do. To fully understand banking, therefore, it is crucial to
understand how leverage works.
The leverage ratio is the ratio of the bank’s total assets to bank capital. In this
example, the leverage ratio is $1,000/$50, or 20. A leverage ratio of 20 means that
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-029.indd 631
leverage
the use of borrowed
money to supplement
existing funds for
purposes of investment
leverage ratio
the ratio of assets to bank
capital
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capital requirement
a government regulation
specifying a minimum
amount of bank capital
for every dollar of capital that the bank owners have contributed, the bank has $20
of assets. Of the $20 of assets, $19 are financed with borrowed money—either by
taking in deposits or issuing debt.
You may have learned in a science class that a lever can amplify a force: A boulder that you cannot move with your arms alone will move more easily if you use
a lever. A similar result occurs with bank leverage. To see how this works, let’s
continue with this numerical example. Suppose that the bank’s assets were to rise
in value by 5 percent because, say, some of the securities the bank was holding
rose in price. Then the $1,000 of assets would now be worth $1,050. Because the
depositors and debt holders are still owed $950, the bank capital rises from $50 to
$100. Thus, when the leverage rate is 20, a 5-percent increase in the value of assets
increases the owners’ equity by 100 percent.
The same principle works on the downside, but with troubling consequences.
Suppose that some people who borrowed from the bank default on their loans,
reducing the value of the bank’s assets by 5 percent, to $950. Because the depositors and debt holders have the legal right to be paid before the bank owners, the
value of the owners’ equity falls to zero. Thus, when the leverage ratio is 20, a
5-percent fall in the value of the bank assets leads to a 100-percent fall in bank
capital. If the value of assets were to fall by more than 5 percent, the bank’s assets
would fall below its liabilities. In this case, the bank would be insolvent, and it
would be unable to pay off its debt holders and depositors in full.
Bank regulators require banks to hold a certain amount of capital. The goal of
such a capital requirement is to ensure that banks will be able to pay off their
depositors (without having to resort to government-provided deposit insurance
funds). The amount of capital required depends on the kind of assets a bank
holds. If the bank holds safe assets such as government bonds, regulators require
less capital than if the bank holds risky assets such as loans to borrowers whose
credit is of dubious quality.
In 2008 and 2009, many banks found themselves with too little capital after
they had incurred losses on some of their assets—specifically, mortgage loans
and securities backed by mortgage loans. The shortage of capital induced the
banks to reduce their lending, a phenomenon sometimes called a credit crunch,
which in turn contributed to a severe downturn in economic activity. (This event
is discussed more fully in Chapter 20.) To address this problem, the U.S. Treasury,
working together with the Federal Reserve, put many billions of dollars of public
funds into the banking system to increase the amount of bank capital. As a result,
it temporarily made the U.S. taxpayer a part owner of many banks. The goal of
this unusual policy was to recapitalize the banking system so that bank lending
could return to a more normal level, which in fact occurred by late 2009.
The Fed’s Tools of Monetary Control
As we have already discussed, the Federal Reserve is responsible for controlling
the supply of money in the economy. Now that we understand how banking
works, we are in a better position to understand how the Fed carries out this job.
Because banks create money in a system of fractional-reserve banking, the Fed’s
control of the money supply is indirect. When the Fed decides to change the
money supply, it must consider how its actions will work through the banking
system.
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The Fed has a variety of tools in its monetary toolbox. We can group those tools
into two groups: those that influence the quantity of reserves and those that influence the reserve ratio and thereby the money multiplier.
How the Fed Influences the Quantity of Reserves
The first way the Fed can change the money supply is by changing the quantity of
reserves. The Fed alters the quantity of reserves in the economy either by buying
or selling bonds in open-market operations or by making loans to banks (or by
some combination of the two). Let’s consider each of these in turn.
Open-Market Operations As we noted earlier, the Fed conducts open-market
operations when it buys or sells government bonds. To increase the money supply, the Fed instructs its bond traders at the New York Fed to buy bonds from
the public in the nation’s bond markets. The dollars the Fed pays for the bonds
increase the number of dollars in the economy. Some of these new dollars are held
as currency, and some are deposited in banks. Each new dollar held as currency
increases the money supply by exactly $1. Each new dollar deposited in a bank
increases the money supply by more than a dollar because it increases reserves
and, thereby, the amount of money that the banking system can create.
To reduce the money supply, the Fed does just the opposite: It sells government
bonds to the public in the nation’s bond markets. The public pays for these bonds
with its holdings of currency and bank deposits, directly reducing the amount
of money in circulation. In addition, as people make withdrawals from banks to
buy these bonds from the Fed, banks find themselves with a smaller quantity of
reserves. In response, banks reduce the amount of lending, and the process of
money creation reverses itself.
Open-market operations are easy to conduct. In fact, the Fed’s purchases and
sales of government bonds in the nation’s bond markets are similar to the transactions that any individual might undertake for his own portfolio. (Of course,
when an individual buys or sells a bond, money changes hands, but the amount
of money in circulation remains the same.) In addition, the Fed can use openmarket operations to change the money supply by a small or large amount on
any day without major changes in laws or bank regulations. Therefore, openmarket operations are the tool of monetary policy that the Fed uses most often.
Fed Lending to Banks The Fed can also increase the quantity of reserves
in the economy by lending reserves to banks. Banks borrow from the Fed when
they feel they do not have enough reserves on hand, either to satisfy bank
regulators, meet depositor withdrawals, make new loans, or for some other
business reason.
There are various ways banks can borrow from the Fed. Traditionally, banks
borrow from the Fed’s discount window and pay an interest rate on that loan called
the discount rate. When the Fed makes such a loan to a bank, the banking system
has more reserves than it otherwise would, and these additional reserves allow
the banking system to create more money.
The Fed can alter the money supply by changing the discount rate. A higher
discount rate discourages banks from borrowing reserves from the Fed. Thus, an
increase in the discount rate reduces the quantity of reserves in the banking system, which in turn reduces the money supply. Conversely, a lower discount rate
encourages banks to borrow from the Fed, increasing the quantity of reserves and
the money supply.
CHE-MANKIW-10-0603-029.indd 633
open-market
operations
the purchase and sale of
U.S. government bonds
by the Fed
discount rate
the interest rate on the
loans that the Fed makes
to banks
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In recent years, the Federal Reserve has set up new mechanisms for banks
to borrow from the Fed. For example, under the Term Auction Facility, the Fed
sets a quantity of funds it wants to lend to banks, and eligible banks then bid to
borrow those funds. The loans go to the highest eligible bidders—that is, to the
banks that have acceptable collateral and are offering to pay the highest interest
rate. Unlike at the discount window, where the Fed sets the price of a loan and
the banks determine the quantity of borrowing, at the Term Auction Facility
the Fed sets the quantity of borrowing and competitive bidding among banks
determines the price. The more funds the Fed makes available through this and
similar facilities, the greater the quantity of reserves and the larger the money
supply.
The Fed uses such lending not only to control the money supply but also to
help financial institutions when they are in trouble. For example, when the stock
market crashed by 22 percent on October 19, 1987, many Wall Street brokerage
firms found themselves temporarily in need of funds to finance the high volume of stock trading. The next morning, before the stock market opened, Fed
Chairman Alan Greenspan announced the Fed’s “readiness to serve as a source of
liquidity to support the economic and financial system.” Many economists believe
that Greenspan’s reaction to the stock crash was an important reason it had few
repercussions.
Similarly, in 2008 and 2009, a fall in housing prices throughout the United
States led to a sharp rise in the number of homeowners defaulting on their mortgage loans, and many financial institutions holding those mortgages ran into
trouble. In an attempt to prevent these events from having broader economic
ramifications, the Fed provided many billions of dollars of loans to financial institutions in distress.
How the Fed Influences the Reserve Ratio
In addition to influencing the quantity of reserves, the Fed changes the money
supply by influencing the reserve ratio and thereby the money multiplier.
The Fed can influence the reserve ratio either through regulating the quantity
of reserves banks must hold or through the interest rate that the Fed pays
banks on their reserves. Again, we consider each of these monetary policy tools
in turn.
reserve
requirements
regulations on the
minimum amount of
reserves that banks must
hold against deposits
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Reserve Requirements One way the Fed can influence the reserve ratio is by
altering reserve requirements, the regulations that set the minimum amount of
reserves that banks must hold against their deposits. Reserve requirements influence how much money the banking system can create with each dollar of reserves.
An increase in reserve requirements means that banks must hold more reserves
and, therefore, can loan out less of each dollar that is deposited. As a result,
an increase in reserve requirements raises the reserve ratio, lowers the money
multiplier, and decreases the money supply. Conversely, a decrease in reserve
requirements lowers the reserve ratio, raises the money multiplier, and increases
the money supply.
The Fed uses changes in reserve requirements only rarely because these
changes disrupt the business of banking. When the Fed increases reserve
requirements, for instance, some banks find themselves short of reserves,
even though they have seen no change in deposits. As a result, they have to
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curtail lending until they build their level of reserves to the new required
level. Moreover, in recent years, this particular tool has become less effective because many banks hold excess reserves (that is, more reserves than are
required).
Paying Interest on Reserves Traditionally, banks did not earn any interest
on the reserves they held. In October 2008, however, the Fed began paying interest on reserves. That is, when a bank holds reserves on deposit at the Fed, the Fed
now pays the bank interest on those deposits. This change gives the Fed another
tool with which to influence the economy. The higher the interest rate on reserves,
the more reserves banks will choose to hold. Thus, an increase in the interest rate
on reserves will tend to increase the reserve ratio, lower the money multiplier,
and lower the money supply. Because the Fed has paid interest on reserves for a
relatively short time, it is not yet clear how important this new instrument will be
in the conduct of monetary policy.
Problems in Controlling the Money Supply
The Fed’s various tools—open-market operations, bank lending, reserve requirements, and interest on reserves—have powerful effects on the money supply. Yet
the Fed’s control of the money supply is not precise. The Fed must wrestle with
two problems, each of which arises because much of the money supply is created
by our system of fractional-reserve banking.
The first problem is that the Fed does not control the amount of money that
households choose to hold as deposits in banks. The more money households
deposit, the more reserves banks have, and the more money the banking system
can create. The less money households deposit, the less reserves banks have, and
the less money the banking system can create. To see why this is a problem, suppose that one day people begin to lose confidence in the banking system and,
therefore, decide to withdraw deposits and hold more currency. When this happens, the banking system loses reserves and creates less money. The money supply falls, even without any Fed action.
The second problem of monetary control is that the Fed does not control
the amount that bankers choose to lend. When money is deposited in a bank,
it creates more money only when the bank loans it out. Because banks can
choose to hold excess reserves instead, the Fed cannot be sure how much
money the banking system will create. For instance, suppose that one day
bankers become more cautious about economic conditions and decide to make
fewer loans and hold greater reserves. In this case, the banking system creates less money than it otherwise would. Because of the bankers’ decision, the
money supply falls.
Hence, in a system of fractional-reserve banking, the amount of money in the
economy depends in part on the behavior of depositors and bankers. Because the
Fed cannot control or perfectly predict this behavior, it cannot perfectly control
the money supply. Yet if the Fed is vigilant, these problems need not be large.
The Fed collects data on deposits and reserves from banks every week, so it is
quickly aware of any changes in depositor or banker behavior. It can, therefore,
respond to these changes and keep the money supply close to whatever level it
chooses.
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© RKO/THE KOBAL COLLECTION/PICTURE DESK
Bank Runs and the Money Supply
A not-so-wonderful bank
run
Most likely you have never witnessed a bank run in real life, but you may have
seen one depicted in movies such as Mary Poppins or It’s a Wonderful Life. A bank
run occurs when depositors suspect that a bank may go bankrupt and, therefore,
“run” to the bank to withdraw their deposits. The United States has not seen
a major bank run in recent history, but in the United Kingdom, a bank called
Northern Rock experienced a run in 2007 and, as a result, was eventually taken
over by the government.
Bank runs are a problem for banks under fractional-reserve banking. Because a
bank holds only a fraction of its deposits in reserve, it cannot satisfy withdrawal
requests from all depositors. Even if the bank is in fact solvent (meaning that its
assets exceed its liabilities), it will not have enough cash on hand to allow all
depositors immediate access to all of their money. When a run occurs, the bank
is forced to close its doors until some bank loans are repaid or until some lender
of last resort (such as the Fed) provides it with the currency it needs to satisfy
depositors.
Bank runs complicate the control of the money supply. An important example of this problem occurred during the Great Depression in the early 1930s.
After a wave of bank runs and bank closings, households and bankers became
more cautious. Households withdrew their deposits from banks, preferring to
hold their money in the form of currency. This decision reversed the process
of money creation, as bankers responded to falling reserves by reducing bank
loans. At the same time, bankers increased their reserve ratios so that they
would have enough cash on hand to meet their depositors’ demands in any
future bank runs. The higher reserve ratio reduced the money multiplier, which
further reduced the money supply. From 1929 to 1933, the money supply fell
by 28 percent, without the Federal Reserve taking any deliberate contractionary action. Many economists point to this massive fall in the money supply to
explain the high unemployment and falling prices that prevailed during this
period. (In future chapters, we examine the mechanisms by which changes in
the money supply affect unemployment and prices.)
Today, bank runs are not a major problem for the U.S. banking system or the
Fed. The federal government now guarantees the safety of deposits at most banks,
primarily through the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). Depositors
do not run on their banks because they are confident that, even if their bank goes
bankrupt, the FDIC will make good on the deposits. The policy of government
deposit insurance has costs: Bankers whose deposits are guaranteed may have too
little incentive to avoid bad risks when making loans. But one benefit of deposit
insurance is a more stable banking system. As a result, most people see bank runs
only in the movies. ■
The Federal Funds Rate
federal funds rate
If you read about U.S. monetary policy in the newspaper, you will find much
discussion of the federal funds rate. This raises several questions:
the interest rate at which
banks make overnight
loans to one another
Q: What is the federal funds rate?
A: The federal funds rate is the short-term interest rate that banks charge one
another for loans. If one bank finds itself short of reserves while another
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bank has excess reserves, the second bank can lend some reserves to the
first. The loans are temporary—typically overnight. The price of the loan is
the federal funds rate.
Q: How is the federal funds rate different from the discount rate?
A: The discount rate is the interest rate banks pay to borrow directly from the
Federal Reserve through the discount window. Borrowing reserves from
another bank in the federal funds market is an alternative to borrowing
reserves from the Fed, and a bank short of reserves will typically do whichever is cheaper. In practice, the discount rate and the federal funds rate
move closely together.
Q: Does the federal funds rate matter only for banks?
A: Not at all. While only banks borrow directly in the federal funds market,
the economic impact of this market is much broader. Because different
parts of the financial system are highly interconnected, interest rates on
different kinds of loans are strongly correlated with one another. So when
the federal funds rate rises or falls, other interest rates often move in the
same direction.
Q: What does the Federal Reserve have to do with the federal funds rate?
A: In recent years, the Federal Reserve has set a target goal for the federal
funds rate. When the Federal Open Market Committee meets approximately
every six weeks, it decides whether to raise or lower that target.
Q: How can the Fed make the federal funds rate hit the target it sets?
A: Although the actual federal funds rate is set by supply and demand in
the market for loans among banks, the Fed can use open-market operations to influence that market. For example, when the Fed buys bonds in
open-market operations, it injects reserves into the banking system. With
more reserves in the system, fewer banks find themselves in need of borrowing reserves to meet reserve requirements. The fall in demand for borrowing reserves decreases the price of such borrowing, which is the federal
funds rate. Conversely, when the Fed sells bonds and withdraws reserves
from the banking system, more banks find themselves short of reserves,
and they bid up the price of borrowing reserves. Thus, open-market purchases lower the federal funds rate, and open-market sales raise the federal
funds rate.
Q: But don’t these open-market operations affect the money supply?
A: Yes, absolutely. When the Fed announces a change in the federal funds
rate, it is committing itself to the open-market operations necessary to
make that change happen, and these open-market operations will alter
the supply of money. Decisions by the FOMC to change the target for the
federal funds rate are also decisions to change the money supply. They are
two sides of the same coin. Other things equal, a decrease in the target for
the federal funds rate means an expansion in the money supply, and an
increase in the target for the federal funds rate means a contraction in the
money supply.
QUICK QUIZ Describe how banks create money. • If the Fed wanted to use all three
of its policy tools to decrease the money supply, what would it do?
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Conclusion
Some years ago, a book made the best-seller list with the title Secrets of the
Temple: How the Federal Reserve Runs the Country. Although no doubt an exaggeration, this title did highlight the important role of the monetary system
in our daily lives. Whenever we buy or sell anything, we are relying on the
extraordinarily useful social convention called “money.” Now that we know
what money is and what determines its supply, we can discuss how changes
in the quantity of money affect the economy. We begin to address that topic in
the next chapter.
SUMMAR Y
SUMMARY
• The term money refers to assets that people regularly use to buy goods and services.
• Money serves three functions. As a medium
of exchange, it provides the item used to make
transactions. As a unit of account, it provides the
way in which prices and other economic values
are recorded. As a store of value, it provides a
way of transferring purchasing power from the
present to the future.
• Commodity money, such as gold, is money that
has intrinsic value: It would be valued even if
it were not used as money. Fiat money, such as
paper dollars, is money without intrinsic value: It
would be worthless if it were not used as money.
• In the U.S. economy, money takes the form of
currency and various types of bank deposits,
such as checking accounts.
• The Federal Reserve, the central bank of the
(the use of borrowed funds for investment), a
small change in the value of a bank’s assets can
lead to a large change in the value of the bank’s
capital. To protect depositors, bank regulators require banks to hold a certain minimum
amount of capital.
• The Fed controls the money supply primarily
through open-market operations: The purchase
of government bonds increases the money supply, and the sale of government bonds decreases
the money supply. The Fed also uses other tools
to control the money supply. It can expand the
money supply by decreasing the discount rate,
increasing its lending to banks, lowering reserve
requirements, or decreasing the interest rate on
reserves. It can contract the money supply by
increasing the discount rate, decreasing its lending to banks, raising reserve requirements, or
increasing the interest rate on reserves.
United States, is responsible for regulating the
U.S. monetary system. The Fed chairman is
appointed by the president and confirmed by
Congress every four years. The chairman is
the lead member of the Federal Open Market
Committee, which meets about every six weeks
to consider changes in monetary policy.
• When individuals deposit money in banks and
• Bank depositors provide resources to banks
monetary policy by choosing a target for the
federal funds rate, a short-term interest rate
at which banks make loans to one another. As
the Fed achieves its target, it adjusts the money
supply.
by depositing their funds into bank accounts.
These deposits are part of a bank’s liabilities.
Bank owners also provide resources (called
bank capital) for the bank. Because of leverage
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banks loan out some of these deposits, the quantity of money in the eco
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